


Mister Jones' Circus for Empowered Beings

by Mercy_Rhyne



Series: Mister Jones' Circus for Empowered Beings [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Child Abuse, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Discrimination, Gen, Human Trafficking, Kidnapping, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Past Child Abuse, Remus is actually soft in this one, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Sympathetic Remus Sanders, Torture, a sort of conversion therapy, black market things happen, it's really shitty, most of it is implied but there are some scenes, okay this is gonna be wild bear with me, severe mistreatment of people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-12-01 21:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20904701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercy_Rhyne/pseuds/Mercy_Rhyne
Summary: Things have been the same for years. Not exactly fair, but... that's life. Everyone has accepted it at this point; even the people that disagree know there's fairly little to do to stop it. So they bow their head and go with the flow.But when six people meet under... less than ideal circumstances, they might be able to make a change





	1. PROLOGUE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: mention of human trafficking

Mister Jones’ Circus for Empowered Beings was one of America’s biggest Special Circuses. People came from all over the nation just to see the wondrous shows that they would put up nearly every day. From all over the world, even. It was easily the most successful and most gorgeous Special Circuses ever seen. They had a few stunning regular acts that people would happily pay thousands of dollars for just to witness, as well as incredible temporary acts. It had been the first of its kind to prove that you could actually make a living out of a place like this. And all of it had been set into motion by a man known as Mister Jones.

Mister Jones wasn’t his real name. Everybody knew that. But it was the only name anyone ever knew to give him. Because, you see, running a circus like this was illegal, even then. So everyone in this business had to do it in secret. Which is why they never used their real names. No one did. So, if you did happen to get caught, you couldn’t rat out your buddies to the authorities. And on the odd occasion that there was a spy checking out your little business as part of an investigation, you could easily run away as soon as you heard of this. Change your name and start your business all over again without anyone even noticing. People had done it before and they would do it again. Their target audience always seemed to know where to go. How, it would never be known to outsiders. 

If you didn’t know about this, you would never have realised but this one Special Circus wasn’t unique. No, there were many businesses of a similar kind. Some were large events, like Mister Jones’ Special Circus. But there were also smaller kinds of events. Auctions, to sell or hire Empowered Beings. Parties where the sole entertainment was delivered by Empowered Beings. There were even the Living Room Circuses, which followed a theme similar to the larger Special Circuses, but on a much smaller scale. And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of all illegal happenings people organised centered around Empowered Beings. The black market was huge, not just in America, but all over the world.

What are Empowered Beings, you ask? Now, they were humans, much like any of us. The only difference being that they had special powers that regular people did not have. And for many people like Mister Jones, these powers seemed to signify that Empowered Individuals were less than regular human beings. It seemed to be an excuse to treat them like dirt. Of course, not everyone thought like that, but what’s the comfort in saying that when there’s so many people doing such horrific things? Empowered Beings were way less common than regular, powerless people, and chances were fairly high that you would have at least one run-in with… more than unpleasant characters like Mister Jones and his crew. And once in those circles, it was damned hard to get out of there. You were on their radar and in their memory for the rest of your life. 

Something that started a change in this, though, was a curious case that happened at Mister Jones Circus for Empowered Beings. A strange chain of events, a meeting of minds, would change the course of history.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a little prologue for a new story I've been working on :D I will be posting this every day leading up to Halloween, so look out for more real soon!


	2. CHAPTER ONE: THE TWINS' STORY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: prostitution (mostly implied), mentions of suicidal thoughts and alcohol, lying and manipulation, kidnapping, torture, child abuse/neglect, black market things, (forced) slavery I think you can label this
> 
> (If you can find the mythology references in this one, I'll love you)

Roman and Remus Silver, or as they were better known; ‘the twins’, were two of the stars of Mister Jones’ Circus. 

When they were born, they lived with only their mother, Rae. They never knew their father; he walked out as soon as Rae told him the news of her pregnancy. This left the young woman alone to raise two kids by herself. She found a job at a local cafe, and some of her friends offered to watch the kids when Rae was out working, but it wasn’t enough to take care of all three of them. The single mother managed to do this for about a year and a half before she got kicked out of her apartment. She moved in with one of her best friends, Sandra, for a reduced rent. But even that got too much. The job at the cafe paid next to nothing, and Rae barely had enough money to pay for her son’s diapers and food. Her friends offered to help her out, but she refused. She was already in more debt than she could handle and she didn’t want to add to that even more. 

So, when the situation became too dire, Rae decided to take another job on the side. She didn’t want to, but she really didn’t see another choice. 

Usually, the female would wait until her sons were asleep and she would sneak out, telling her friend to contact her only if it was really serious. Then, she would head out to wherever she was needed and spend a large portion of the night on the streets, selling her services to whoever needed them.

It was during one of these nightly escapades that she met a man. He was nice, he offered her a drink, and he talked to her. He _ listened _to her. And she didn’t know how it happened, but somehow, Rae found herself talking about her life. About her ex who left her with two kids, and how she struggled to keep her head above water. About how her kids recently started showing signs of powers and about how stressed out she was about how she had to deal with it, how she had to protect them from a society that seemed to hate them. About how she didn’t want to live like this anymore, but she couldn’t leave her kids without parents. About how often she talked about ending it, about running away, about leaving her kids, and about how horrible she felt about thinking like that. She knew she couldn’t abandon her sons, and she never wanted to, but it was all so hard and stressful. 

And where the woman had expected this man to dismiss her problems, to tell her to ignore it and move on with her life, he didn’t. He let her talk and cry, and he never once urged her to get over it because he wasn’t paying her to cry about how hard her life was. No, he _ listened _. He even made her an offer. 

“I know of this place,” he had said, “where they can help children just like yours.”

Rae had put down her glass and looked at him with wide eyes, tears still streaming down her face. “What do you mean?”

“There’s a school,” he continued calmly, stroking some of her brown hair out of her face. “Not far from here. They can train Empowered kids like yours. They will live there, provide for them. You won’t have to worry about a thing.”

“But I- I don’t have money, to…”

“That’s no issue,” the man interrupted. “They don’t charge you anything. They don’t care about money, they just want to help kids like yours.”

Her eyes widened. That sounded amazing! She could continue working without worrying about her kids, and they could still have a good life. They could get food, a decent roof over their heads, they could make friends!

“Can I… Can I see them?”

“Of course you can! They arrange days for the parents to come and visit their children if they want to.”

The two of them kept talking about this school, about its location, what it had to offer and how she could contact them to ask about her kids. Rae in turn, gave the man (Larry Jamesson, he said) her phone number so the school could call her too, if something happened to the twins. 

Larry even showed her pictures of the site and told her about his own kids, who went there as well. It all seemed so real and Rae, as naive as she was, saw no reason not to trust this man. 

Finally, they arranged a meeting. On Sunday, two days from now. Rae and Larry would meet at a cafe and he could take them to their new school - seeing as Rae didn’t have a driver’s license and she knew that her friend would not be available to drive them that day. 

Rae was free over the weekend, so she spent as much time with her kids as possible. On Saturday, she took them to the park and had a small picnic. She told them about Larry and the school for Empowered kids just like them. She told them that she would come to see them as soon as she was allowed to, and that they could always call her if they missed her. The idea of going away and leaving their mom behind scared the two toddlers - they were barely four years old at this time - but what could they do? 

On Sunday, it was time for the kids to leave. Rae met Larry at the cafe where they had agreed to meet and she introduced the two kids to him. After a drink, and the mother making sure that Larry knew everything about her twins - allergies, fear, weird habits - it was time to say goodbye. Rae hugged her kids close and told her she would call them the next day. Yet the two toddlers did not seem to want to let go. They kept trying to hang on to her pants, her shirt, anything. 

It took some time, but finally the two adults managed to convince the kids to join the stranger. Rae watched as her children left and found a comfort in knowing that they would be safe and okay, that she would be able to call them at any time she wanted to. 

But when she wanted to call the school the next day, no one answered her. She tried multiple times, but she was ignored. Instantly sent to voicemail. Even when she tried the days after this, no one answered. Never. 

After a week of nothing, Rae even convinced her friend to drive her to the address that Larry had given her, only to find out that it didn’t exist. 

Because you might see the issue here, that poor Rae in her innocent naivety, did not. You see, Larry was never acquainted with a school for Empowered kids. This school did not even exist. It was a fake. 

In reality, Larry was good friends with Mister Jones, and when he heard Rae’s story about not only having Empowered kids, but Empowered _ twins _ at that, as he could think about was how much money those two children would make if they were employed in Jones’ Circus. The school was merely a ploy that was meant to convince Rae to make a deal. And it worked oh so perfectly. 

Rae did everything she could to get her kids back. She called the police, and even got used the last bit of her money she’d been saving for her sons to hire a Private Detective but Larry Jamesson seemed to have disappeared into thin air, and her kids with him. 

The kids arrived at the Circus, and they knew something was wrong even before they got inside. They didn’t trust all those creepy people staring at them. There were no kids, no nice people. There was nothing that their mom had promised them. 

There were a few tents in front of them. One large red one, a few smaller white ones around it. In the distance, he could see a metal building, with only a door and no windows. Next to it, there was a larger, wooden building. It looked way more like a house than the other, with small windows and a bit of furniture inside. Despite the make of both buildings and their apparent sturdiness, it would seem like they were not meant to be for permanent use and were only there temporarily.

The twins were dragged inside a one of the last white tents, despite them screaming and doing their best to set themselves free. Kicking, biting, clawing at the hand holding them. But it didn’t do much for either of them. After all, they were only small four-year-olds and Larry was a large, strong man. 

Once inside, they were pushed into a corner, where two creepy-looking people put a metal thing on them, more like a collar than a necklace, before the were each shoved into an individual cage. Remus was the one to start crying and screaming as he tried to get out of the cage, and the sound of it was enough cause for Roman to do the same. This wasn’t fun, and they were promised that it would be fun! That there would be kids for them to play with, that it would be nice. This wasn’t any of that! 

People were starting to get annoyed at the screaming toddlers and they whispered to themselves about shutting these kids up, but then Mister Jones himself walked in, heading towards the small children in cages. He was tall, muscular, bald with a black beard and mustache. And everything about him said that he would not mess around. His mere presence was enough to shut the two children up before he had even said anything. 

“These are the kids, huh?” Jones asked in a low, booming voice. He turned back to look at Larry, who nodded. “What are their powers?”

“I don’t know, sir,” Larry responded. “From the mother’s accounts, the left one can shapeshift, I don’t know the other. Sounds like mimicry or absorption, but it could be near anything.”

“We will know soon enough,” Jones stated as he walked towards a table near the back of the tent. “Clear out, all of you.”

As he had said those words, everyone who was currently in the tent scrambled to get out of there as quickly as possible. In mere seconds, the entire place was abandoned. It was just Mister Jones and the kids. The large man picked up something that seemed like a large stick and turned to the twins. 

He gave Remus a long look, muttering something about ‘shapeshifter’, before he walked past his cage and towards Roman. “And what’s your power, little one?” he asked. His voice was softer than before, but still as low and threatening. And Roman didn’t like it one bit. This guy was so scary and intimidating, and he just wanted to get out of there and get back to his mother. But there was no way to get out of this cage, no matter how much he tried. 

“I- I don’t know, mister,” the small boy stammered, not understanding what this man was talking about. He knew that weird things happened sometimes with him and Remus, but he didn’t know what his ‘power’ was. He didn’t even know that he was supposed to have a power, what it meant, why. He had no idea what any of this was supposed to mean. He was scared and alone, even though his brother was right there. But he couldn’t get to him, couldn’t hug him… he just wanted to hug Remus. 

“That’s sir,” Jones corrected as he stepped closer to the cage. Roman saw the stick in his hand and he noticed that the stick had two little metal points sticking out of it, and he couldn’t help but wonder what it was for. “You know what this is?” Jones asked, seeing Roman’s eyes had focussed on the object. The kid shook his head, but didn’t look away. “Why don’t you come a little close and find out?”

The man’s voice suddenly got a thousand times sweeter, less scary than before. And Roman didn’t want to do what he said, but he had to admit that he was super curious, and Jones sounded genuinely sweet. He didn’t see the issue with just… trying it out. 

So Roman edged closer and carefully extended a hand. Just in that moment, Jones put the two metal points against Roman’s arm and shocked him. The kid gasped in shock at the sudden pain and stumbled back, quickly falling. The pain and the shock and everything made him burst into tears, holding his arm. He didn’t understand what was happening, he just knew that his arm hurt and it was the stick that caused this. 

Remus saw what happened and looked at Roman with wide eyes as soon as his twin started crying. He didn’t know what happened but his brother was upset and in pain and it wasn’t good. “Ro?” he called out, trying to get as close to his brother as he could. “Roro?”

“Tell me what you can do, kid,” Jones repeated harshly, completely ignoring Remus’ distressed cries. “Just show me.”

Roman shook his head, still holding his arm. He didn’t understand what Jones wanted him to do. He didn’t get all of this. “Hurts,” he whispered, mostly to himself. 

“If you show me what you can do, I can make it stop,” the man promised with the same sweetness that had laced his voice a bit before that. 

Obviously, the small kid didn’t do anything. He didn’t know what Jones wanted him to do. It was as if he was expected to understand, but he was way too young to have any concept of what was happening or where they were. 

When the kid didn’t respond, Jones poked him in his side with the stick, again shocking Roman. The toddler gasped out and let out another pained sob. Why was this guy hurting him? What had he done wrong? He didn’t understand. 

This went on for a few times. Jones asked Roman to show his powers. Roman didn’t understand. Jones shocked him. Roman was in pain. Remus protested and tried to get to his brother. Jones ignored him. Start from the beginning. 

Roman was desperately trying to figure out what it was that he had to do. He had to show his powers. He had to show what he could do. But he didn’t know what it was. 

It wasn’t until Remus was starting to get real annoying that Jones decided to shut up the little brat. He turned to the youngest of the two and poked him with the shocking-stick. Remus yelped and fell back. This, in turn, caused Roman to worry. That man hurt his brother! He couldn’t just do that!

He pushed himself up with a glare at the man. He couldn’t hurt Remus like that! Before the kid even knew what happened, a weak spark flew out of his hand and made contact with one of the bars of the cage. Jones seemed caught off guard for a second, but that look of bewilderment only lasted for a moment, quickly making way for a smirk.

The next moment, the metal collar around Roman’s neck gave off a shock that was way stronger than the ones Jones had given him. 

“Perfect,” he grinned, putting away the stick. Next, he walked towards the exit of the tent. “Gracie, cuff them and send them to solitary,” he called out as he left. “Separate.”

It didn’t take long for a tall woman to enter. She walked towards one of the chests opposite the caged and got out two sets of small handcuffs, first opening the door to Remus’ cage. She locked the cuffs around his wrists, made sure they were tight enough, and pulled him out of the cage. Remus tried to protest, but the woman was strong. Even stronger than Larry had been, and she pulled the kid along without any difficulty. Not that it was difficult to overpower a four-year old. Even if that four-year old was a Remus Silver who was trying to protect his brother. Gracie was at least ten time his age; she could handle it. 

Roman softly sobbed to himself as his brother was taken away from him. It didn’t take long for Gracie to return and grab the final set of cuffs for Roman. He didn’t even have time to protect himself; before he knew it, the woman stood in front of him and she had cuffed his wrists in front of his body. She grabbed the little chain connecting the two cuffs and pulled him along. 

At this point, Roman didn’t bother to protest. He was tired and hurting and he didn’t want them to get angry again. Gracie took him to the windowless, metal building. She pushed the heavy door open and pulled the poor kid into a long hallway. There were multiple doors, large and heavy. All the same as each other. It was dark inside; the hallway lit by only a few small light bulbs. Only the bare minimum. 

The female opened the last door on their left and without a word, pushed Roman inside. In the room, there was nothing but a small lamp on the wall and a bed in the corner. Nothing else. There wasn’t anything to do and Roman sat down on the ground in front of the bed. He didn’t like this here. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see his mom again, to see Sandra again. He didn’t like these people at all. He wanted to go home. 

The two kids had to stay in that little room for the rest of the day and night. No one came to see them, they didn’t hear anything. It wasn’t until what they would later find out was the next morning that some other female came to get them and led them to one of the other tents, where there was a whole group of people with the same metal collar as them sat around a table. 

For years, things went on in a similar fashion. The kids were barely given any chance to get used to what was happening around them and what was expected of them. At least the other collared people were nice. And while there wasn’t a lot of time when they could talk, they tried their best to help the kids and explain everything they wanted to hear. About Mister Jones, about the Circus. Everything. 

It took quite a bunch more training sessions just to be sure, but it was determined that Roman’s power was mimicry; he could imitate anything he came into contact with. Not just objects, but he could also mimic the powers of others. Remus, as already established, was a shapeshifter. These powers were trained once they were settled in enough. And the Circus employees didn’t just stop at shocks to stimulate the two to do well. 

They employed various methods of torture and abuse to make sure the kids behaved and did as they were told. Shocks seemed to be their favourite weapon against the two, but no one seemed to shy away from other tools they had access to. Physical, verbal, there wasn’t much that they were afraid to use. 

Using one’s power without permission caused the metal collar to give off a strong shock and alerted the Circus employees. On top of that, it resulted in solitary. A day at best, but it wasn’t rare to be stuck in that metal cell for longer. 

Talking back resulted in punishment and solitary. Talking without permission resulted in punishment. Not doing as you were told resulted in punishment. Failing to do what you were told resulted in punishment, even if you tried your best. Crying, screaming, struggling resulted in solitary. Not a flinch, not a wince, not even a twitch seemed to be allowed. 

The first couple of years, the twins were trained to be able to control their powers. Every night, as guests started arriving for the day’s show, they were put in solitary so that they wouldn’t be a nuisance for the guests. No doubt that some people would absolutely adore little Empowered kids, but they weren’t well-behaved enough to be out with the people just yet. 

From their ninth birthday, the twins started training in order to be able to perform at the shows. Slowly but surely, they were allowed to be out among the people more and more. They mostly stayed backstage, as they weren’t an official act just yet. The richest visitors would be allowed to come backstage to meet the acts, and it would appear that they showed a huge interest in the Empowered twins. Meeting an Empowered Being with a twin was rare enough, but it almost never occurred that both siblings were Empowered. So of course, everyone had to meet the kids. Both of them absolutely hated this, but they didn’t say a thing. They just smiled and listened to the visitors, talking only if they were asked a question. They were too afraid of the consequences of disobeying. 

Their first performance happened on the day of their thirteenth birthday. Mister Jones had been bragging about these Empowered Twins for months, telling pretty much everyone he knew about their spectacular act. So on the day itself, there were a lot of people there to see them. And they had payed a lot of money to be able to. People had travelled halfway across the world just to see them. And the two teenagers were terrified. They had dreaded this day for about as long as they knew about it. It wasn’t just the fact that they had to perform in front of all these people. 

No, it was mostly that they were afraid to mess up in front of all these people. Their trainers - Mister Jones most of all - had told them how many people came here just to see them and how this night needed to be absolutely perfect. They had made them rehearse until they couldn’t stand anymore and even past that. This had to be absolutely perfect. No room for a failure. They knew that messing up now, would result in a punishment. And they doubted it would be light. This night was one of the most important ones in their young lives. 

On top of that, they were scared of falling out of grace. Scared of messing up and letting their trainers see that they were worthless after all. Just a nice idea, but nothing more. They knew very well what happened to those who fell out of grace; they disappeared. No one knew where they went, what happened to them after they left. They just went away and never came back. And they didn’t want that to happen to them. 

Luckily for them, the show went flawlessly. The crowd adored their little act, and they just couldn’t get enough of it. After the show, dozens of people wanted to talk to the little stars, who were cuffed up in the back of one of the surrounding tents - to make sure they didn’t abuse their powers during the show. The twins hated the attention; there were way more people trying to talk to them than the times before, and both of them just wanted to turn away and leave. But they couldn’t. They had no choice to listen and accept the compliments about an act that they didn’t even want to perform and answer the questions that they were asked. 

And that was pretty much how the rest of their lives would go. They slowly grew up, performing the same act over and over, day after day without a break. Sure, they changed up their tricks from season to season, but it was always the same. Even now, more than fifteen years after their first show, the Empowered Twins were Mister Jones’ main attraction, drawing people from all over the world. Some people made it a point to see every new act they had prepared for the duo. There were dozens of people who had offered to buy them for sums of money that tended to go up into the thousands, if not millions. But Jones wasn’t dumb; he knew that selling the twins would lose him an audience. He’d rent them out, to serve as decoration or entertainment at a party, for example, for a handsome sum of money. As long as they would be present for their act in the show, anything else was allowed. 

They saw new people entering the Circus, they saw the people they grew up with disappear. Sold to another Circus, to an individual, a training centre, or they disappeared into the vague nothing. The Circus moved locations multiple times in their time there, when it was too close to being discovered by the authorities. They knew their place, kept to themselves as much as they could. Yet it was rare to see either one of the twins without the others. Even if they were caged up for the night, they crawled as close to one another as the bars and their chains would allow - assuming neither of them was sent to solitary that night. They absolutely hated their existence, but there was nothing they could do to change it. And if anything… they always had each other. The sole comfort they could find in this life, was that at least they weren’t alone in this. No matter how many people were around here, it always felt lonely. But at least they knew that there was one other person who really knew their experience. There was one person they knew from their past life. There wasn’t much comfort in this life, but at least they were together. 


	3. CHAPTER TWO: PATTON'S STORY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Kidnapping, torture, near-drowning, abuse, human trafficking, bad things

Patton Jayce came to the Circus about twenty years after the twins did. He was twenty one at the time. But he had been in the ‘business’ for just a little while longer.

He was eighteen and still lived with his parents, Eric and Jessica. He’d just finished high school and had decided to take a gap year, so he could take some time for himself, some time to figure out what he really wanted to do with his life. 

Patton and his family had known that he was Empowered for a good portion of his life. He was about three years old when he started showing the first signs. It usually happened when he lost his temper. Water would act strangely, or a miniature tornado would take shape in the middle of the living room. And even without knowing the full extent of his powers, Eric and Jessica knew something had to be done about this. It wasn’t a secret that many Empowered Beings were killed, or straight up disappeared. That was a future they did not want for their son, so they had to make sure that he was able to control his powers well enough before they sent him to school, preferably. 

After what seemed like ages of looking, the couple managed to find a teacher who offered to help their kid gain control of his abilities. They had heard a lot about children disappearing, so of course, they were a little bit wary, but the reviews online were nothing but positive. Nobody complained about their kids being kidnapped on her watch. So they contacted the woman, Michelle Lorrain, and asked for her help. 

With her aid, they quickly found out that Patton could manipulate the four elements. Much like the Avatar. She helped him control his powers, so that they would not spiral out of control every time he felt an intense emotion. While it was just a little detail, it made Eric and Jessica feel so much more at ease. They were terrified that their kid would end but like one of those children who were taken away from their parents by some shady guy and would disappear forever. They could not bear the thought. 

Luckily, Patton spent the early years of his life with his parents. He quickly learned the danger of his powers and the importance of keeping them in control. And while he was disappointed and upset that he could not show off his amazing skills, he understood. He would rather hide his true self than die for it - or be subjected to an even more horrifying fate. The word of his powers never left their house. Or at least, that’s what they thought. 

Because it would appear that someone had heard of his abilities. He didn’t know how, but someone knew. They had to. 

One day, not long after graduating high school, Patton was on his way to meet up with some of his friends. The plan was to celebrate their graduation and the fact that they never had to go back to high school ever again. Except Patton never made it there. 

He had decided to walk, seeing as the cafe they would meet at was only twenty minutes away from his house. So he might just as well walk, because he would be there before he knew it, and it was better for the environment - and his condition. 

The teen was listening to some music, and not paying any attention to his surroundings - and why would he? He didn’t have any reason to be wary, after all. No reason to suspect that anything would happen to him. 

He was barely five minutes away from his house when someone snuck up behind him and wrapped one arm around his waist, injecting a liquid in his neck with the other. Patton let out a gasp and tried to get himself free, but the injection worked incredibly quickly and before he knew it, his knees gave in and his vision blurred, before he eventually blacked out completely. 

When he regained his consciousness - with a killer headache - he quickly realised where he was, even if he didn’t see much. He was in a dark room, gagged and with his hands cuffed behind his back. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable position, but he was too scared to move. Too scared to do anything, in general. He’d heard enough about people like him disappearing, people like him turning up dead, people like him being rescued from human trafficking rings. He heard it all and he just  _ knew  _ that he was in a similar situation to all of those people. He just hoped, prayed to whatever God there might be out there, that people would find him before it went too far. 

Patton didn’t know how long he sat there, in total silence, in total darkness, before he heard footsteps. It felt like hours, but it might as well have just been a few seconds. The door was slammed open and the young man flinched back. He desperately tried to conjure a small flame, to melt the cuffs around his wrists, but something was preventing that. Something around here was disabling his powers, cancelling them out. There was nothing he could do. 

“Now, you really are a pretty one,” a smooth voice spoke as a light turned on. A woman stood in front of him, she didn’t seem any taller than he was. “Yeah, you will do fantastically once you’re properly trained.”

She knelt in front of him and carefully caressed his face, pushing some of his curly locks out of his face. Patton whimpered and flinched slightly, but didn’t do anything else. Trained? What was he, some sort of animal? 

The woman smirked as she looked into Patton’s brown eyes. “So polite,” she mused in a wispy voice. “They’re really gonna love you.”

Patton looked at the person in front of him with wide eyes, unable to look away. He was almost petrified with fear. All of the horror stories he had heard about this flew through his mind anxiously. He could only think about the horrible things they would do to him in here. And who ‘they’ were. He just hoped that people would be looking for him. 

For the rest of the day - that’s what he assumed, at least - Patton was pretty much left alone. The female - Carola - left after checking on Patton’s state. At some point, someone came in to give him food. And feed him, seeing as his hands were still cuffed together. It wasn’t much, it wasn’t tasty. But it was food, and that was good enough for him. At least he had  _ something _ . 

At some point after that, he fell asleep. It was a restless sleep, and not very comfortable, since he had no real bed and just leaned against one of the stone walls to keep himself up as he slept. He kept waking up at every small noise, only to fall asleep the next moment. Until the door to his tiny room was forced open so roughly that it slammed into the wall with a loud bang. Patton woke up with a start and pushed himself in the farthest corner, whimpering behind the piece of cloth that covered his mouth. 

The person in the door opening looked a whole lot less friendly than Carola did; they were larger, clearly stronger, and they had a menacing look on their face. They were not here to mess around.

They started off… relatively easy, interrogating Patton about his name, his powers, his friends and family, where he was from. Everything they needed to know about him. At first, Patton refused to respond; he was far too scared to do so. But he was forced to change his mind when they brought in a large tub of water and dumped him in. Before he could even take a full breath, Patton was pushed under the water. He trashed against the grip holding him down and struggled, panicking severely. Usually, he would be able to make it so that he could breathe underwater, but something about this place wouldn’t allow this, so he was left to his own devices as he threatened to suffocate. 

But just before that became a reality, he was pulled up and allowed to breathe again. “You wanna answer, sweetcheeks?”

Patton couldn’t respond. He was gasping for air and trying desperately to get all the air he needed. And clearly, his torturer took this lack of an answer as a ‘no’ and pushed the teen under the surface again, keeping a firm grip on his neck to ensure the kid couldn’t get his head above the water. Again, he was pulled up just before he could pass out. But still- he didn’t answer.

This had to happen one more time before Patton finally found himself able to speak. His torturer didn’t even have to repeat the question. As soon as he broke the surface, he gasped out a weak “Pa- Patton.”

“Excuse me?” The person behind him held on to his neck as they edged a little closer. 

“My… My name,” Patton clarified softly, slowly catching his breath. “P- Patton.”

“Patton what?”

Patton hesitated to answer, but he really didn’t want to go under again, so as soon as he felt the grip on his neck tightening, he squeaked out a quick. “Jayce! Patton Jayce!”

He really hated this. He didn’t want to give out his information like this. Especially not his full name, and other kinds of information that would allow these people to find him easily if he ever got out of this. But it was either that or be drowned again. They would either torture the information out of him, or they would kill him if he didn’t give them the answers to their questions. And he wasn’t ready to die. Even if the alternative was a life of torture. 

The session was not yet ready with these answers, though. They managed to get the names of Patton’s parents out of them, their address, and most importantly, the powers he possessed. By the time they finished, Patton was panting and his chest hurt from the lack of oxygen. He was breathing heavily, trying to get the oxygen he needed to… not pass out, but he was just getting light headed by doing this. 

His torturer roughly pulled the teen out of the tub and tossed him to the side, not bothering to be gentle. Patton yelped softly, but was too exhausted to really respond to this. He just wanted to be left alone. He didn’t want this anymore - and it had only been one day. 

It seemed that his wishes had been overheard, because the torturer left without another word, taking the tub with them. Except no one came to see him for what must have been two days. Not even to allow him to eat or drink. It was just him and his thoughts for two days, and Patton almost started to wish that someone would come in. Just because the silence was almost worse than the torture. When left alone, Patton would just overthink. Think about what they were going to do to him, what they would do when he was done here. What his parents would be doing right now. If someone would ever find him again. What if no one would find him? What if he would die here?

As it turned out… he didn’t die. And he wasn’t sure if he was happy about this fact or not. Part of him felt like he’d be better off dead, but at the same time… death scared him. The mere thought of dying scared him and he really didn’t want to die. He didn’t know what would happen to him after death. That’s what frightened him the most. As much as what might lie in his future if he lived, or perhaps even more. 

Over the course of a few months, the Carola and her accomplices trained Patton, like she implied they would. Basically- they trained him to be a perfectly quiet and compliant… vessel of a human. He wasn’t even human. They didn’t treat him like he was, anyways. He was cuffed nearly all the time, gagged at all times - except the few times they needed an answer out of him. They trained him to do literally anything anyone ever asked of him, to stand so still that one would be able to mistake him for a statue if they weren’t aware. They taught him a few ways to use his abilities for parties without endangering anyone; they reinforced this by severely punishing any attempt to use his powers in a way that differed from what was demanded. They taught him  _ tricks _ to do on command. As if he was a fucking dog instead of a human. They found their way into his mind, destroyed all his sense of humanity until there was just a vague essence left. Something for someone to knead into whatever they needed Patton to be. Entertainment, decoration, a pet, a plaything. Whatever they needed. And he was taught not to resist. Or he’d be punished. 

It was only a few months later that he was presented at an auction, even though it felt like years later. He was washed, made to look pretty, dressed up nicely. All so the potential buyers could see just how nice he could look. 

First, he and some others were led to a large room, and all thrown into a cage of their own. Hands cuffed and chained to the bars on the front with a chain around their necks. The chain barely allowed any room for movement. This, of course, was to prevent them from shying back. The buyers had to be able to see the products in order to decide if they wanted to buy them or not. 

Dozens of people entered the room, stared at all the Empowered Beings in cages and talked to Carola about them. Then, after thirty minutes, all the buyers were led to another room and one by one, the Empowered Beings were led out as well. It took some time, sometimes five minutes, sometimes fifteen, before one of Carola’s accomplices entered the room to fetch another one. Patton was one of the last ones. 

Someone opened his cage and grasped the chain around his neck and pulled so harshly that the teen nearly fell out of the cage. Then, he was forced into another room, where he saw all the people he had seen in the room before. Someone read out some facts about him; name, age, powers, even his home address. He was forced to stand in front of the crowd as the bidding began. The prices quickly got higher and higher, into the thousands of dollars, but Patton couldn’t bear to pay attention. He just looked at his feet and focussed on his breaths to calm himself down, until he heard Carola’s voice. 

“Sold!” she announced cheerfully - why would anyone be so happy at selling another human being? “You can come collect him, good sir!”

There was some murmuring and the shuffling of feet and chairs, before someone walked up to Patton, getting the chains from the man next to him. 

“Come on, then,” he huffed, pulling on the chain as he moved towards the exit. Patton let out a muffled yelp as he stumbled forwards, trying to keep up with the man before him. He felt tears burning in the corners of his eyes and he tried to blink them away - he couldn’t cry in front of this man; he couldn’t give him that satisfaction - but he failed. Tears started to roll down his cheeks. He just felt so hopeless! He didn’t know what was going to happen to him now, and he hated how he had no way of influencing his own future. He was just a passenger, a side character in his own life! He could do nothing and it felt horrible in so many ways. But there was nothing for him to do anymore. Nothing to change anymore. 

The man forced him in the back of a car and took a seat in the driver’s seat himself. They drove for almost an hour. In complete silence. The man didn’t speak. Patton didn’t speak. There was no music, no radio. Just pure silence. It was so nerve wracking. So terrifying and sickening. Patton almost begged for the man to speak up, just to break that horrible, horrible silence. 

But that did not happen. The man drove Patton to a large house - not surprising that a guy who had the money to spend thousands of dollars on just some random guy would have a big house, but it was still impressive. And fucking huge. 

He stayed at that house for two years, serving mostly as a trick at one of the many parties that Dylan - his ‘owner’, however much Patton hated that word - threw, something to look pretty for Dylan’s friends, or something for him to take frustration out on. When he wasn’t throwing parties or hanging out with friends or business associates, Dylan spent a lot of time at auctions, but Patton never saw him take anyone else home. 

It was a little more than two years since Patton arrived that something happened. There was a raid, seeing as Dylan was suspected of human trafficking - and rightfully so. There was so much chaos and noise as a number of special agents entered the building, and in the middle of all of that, Patton managed to slip out. He hadn’t been doing anything at the time. Just… sitting next to Dylan and waiting for him to give out a command. 

In hindsight, Patton should have let the cops take him in. They might have been able to help and protect him. But he was terrified of the people. They were loud and they had guns and other weapons and it scared the shit out of him. He was terrified that they would keep him captive and hurt him, just like everyone did. He was scared that he would never get out of this circle ever again and he just… slipped out. It seemed like no one was paying any attention to him anyways, so he left. 

He didn’t have a plan. He didn’t know what he was going to do once he got out of here. He didn’t know where to go, who to trust or turn to. But he didn’t care. As long as he was out of Dylan’s claws. 

For about two days, he managed to roam free. How he did it, Patton didn’t know. He spent those two days walked around, and once he figured out where he was, he tried to find his way back home. But he wasn’t even close to his hometown, when he ran onto someone he recognized. It was a woman he had seen at one of Dylan’s parties. She was present at almost every single one of them, and she seemed to take a very great interest in Patton during those parties. 

Patton started backing up, muttering an apology for being in her way and he made to leave, but she grabbed his upper arm tightly. “And where do you think you’re going?” she snarled, gripping his arm so tightly that he was afraid it would bruise. 

“I’m just- I was- I…” Patton stammered, unable to get out any sensible word at the moment. He was just terrified of her, of being punished, of being taken back to Dylan. He could have used his powers against her - there was nothing now that would prohibit that - but he still refused to. Over the past years, it had been drilled into him that using powers without reason or permission was very, very bad, and he was afraid to get punished for it. Even now. 

“I thought you’d be sneaking around here somewhere,” the woman grinned menacingly as she looked at the smaller man in front of him. “But we can’t have anyone testify against our dear old friend, can we now?”

Patton looked down and shook his head lightly, too afraid to respond. This was when they were gonna kill him, wasn’t it? If the police found him, he could testify against Dylan, tell them about all the things he’d done over the past few years. But if he was gone… there would be way less proof and Dylan would be free, or at least get a less severe punishment for his crimes. 

"Exactly," the woman said with a satisfied nod. The next moment, something heavy hit Patton on the back of his head and he blacked out.

When he came to, Patton noticed he was tied up and gagged, locked up in a space that was barely large enough for him to lay down. It was way too dark to even see his own hands. He panicked and instantly struggled against the ropes that bound his wrists and ankles. But to no avail. 

Weak voices approached the young man's hiding place and stopped a little bit above him, before a small door opened above him. Patton blinked against the bright sunlight that now flooded the car trunk he had been in and saw the woman from before and an unfamiliar man. Talking. About him. 

"Well?" she asked, looking at the bald man next to her. "Does it suffice?"

The man hummed something as he reached forwards and pulled Patton out of the trunk by the ropes around his wrists. He then dropped the other on the ground, who remained there motionless, too scared to do something wrong. Even as the man kicked him in the ribs a few times, Patton did nothing but let out a soft whimper. Don't protest and it would all be over soon. 

"Seems well trained," the man huffed.

"Told you so," the female said smugly. "So… wanna keep to the deal?"

"Very well," he nodded. "Come with me. Roman! Untie the new one and show him around."

"Yes, sir," a soft voice followed as the two others walked away to do their business.

A young man knelt in front of Patton, seemingly just a few years older than he himself. He slowly untied the ropes binding Patton, not daring to lock eyes with the other. 

"There you go," he said softly as he finally got all the knots loose. Then, he finally looked up at Patton with a shy smile. "What- eh… may I know your name?" He was hesitant, almost scared to ask this question, too used to being punished if he spoke out of turn. 

"Patton," he responded as the two got to their feet. "You're Roman?"

Roman nodded, not saying anything. "I had to give you a tour," he announced carefully. "So… let's go."

As they walked, Roman told Patton of the rules they had to follow and the consequences of breaking them.

"That's the solitary cells," the man said as he pointed towards the metal building without windows. "They put us there when we are out of line. You'll wanna prevent that." Roman paused for a moment and Patton saw him staring at the building for a couple seconds, millions of thoughts running through his head. But then he coughed, turning to the wooden building next to it. "That's where the employees stay. We're not allowed anywhere near that."

Next, Roman showed him the large red tent, where the shows would take place, and the smaller, white tents around it. They entered the artist's tent, where they would be kept before, during and after shows. They entered the tent with a large table where they would meet three times a day for meals. They passed by the rehearsal tent, where acts would be practised - someone was rehearsing and they weren't allowed to interrupt. They passed by what Roman called the worst tent; it was the tent where people were sent for their punishments. The tent Roman and his twin spent a lot of time during their early childhood, caged.

They finished their tour in the sleeping tent; a tent with a few cages, where the acts would spend the night. 

"This one's empty," Roman said softly, pointing at one. "It's next to mine." Its previous inhabitant, Lily, had disappeared a few weeks ago. Roman hated it. She was sweet, and they got along. And now she was gone. "It's not much," he continued with a tremble in his voice. "But…"

"It's more than what I had." 

The cage wasn't big. It was big enough for one person to sleep, to stand, even to pace around a little. There was a mattress with a small pillow and a blanket. Really not much, but enough to sleep. Patton was used to it. With Dylan, he would sometimes not even have that in his tiny room - although cupboard felt like a more fitting description. 

Roman nodded and looked at Patton, who noticed that he anxiously avoided making eye contact, and he couldn't stop himself from wondering what he had been through. He always kept his head tilted downwards slightly, even when looking up. His shoulders were slumped and hunched over slightly at all times.

"Roman," Patton started slowly, seeing the other flinching slightly at the use of his name. "If you don't mind me asking… how did you end up here?"

The other looked behind him, making sure they were alone, before he moved closer a bit. "I don't know," he answered, turning back once more to make sure they no one saw him taking time out of his day to chitchat. "I came here with my- my twin. When we were young. Mister Jones says our mum sold us to him, but the others- the other acts, they said he took us away."

Patton hummed softly. So Roman had been here almost all his life then? He couldn't even begin to imagine how they must have been for him - and his twin, too.

"I'm sorry."

“No- no it’s okay,” he quickly responded with a shake of his head. It wasn’t - both of them were aware that wasn’t. But what else were they supposed to say? What were they supposed to do about this situation? It wasn’t as if they could… do anything about it. Well- they probably could. But no one ever dared to. 

“Roman, I hope you’re not wasting any time in here,” Mister Jones said sternly as soon as he stepped inside the small tent. Roman immediately flinched and took a few steps back, looking at his feet. 

“No, sir,” he rushed out, “I was just showing him around, like you told me to.” 

Jones stopped in front of Roman and studied him intently for a few seconds, making the young man shift uncomfortably, holding his breath. 

“Very well,” he finally huffed. “Now, leave. Ray wants to have a word with you.”

“Of course, sir,” Roman finally released his breath as he quickly walked out of the tent, going to find Ray. 

As soon as they were alone, Jones turned to Patton, who was looked back at him with large eyes, almost unable to get away. 

“So, you’re Patton, huh?” the man asked sternly. 

“Y- yes, sir,” the younger of the two responded nervously, shifting his feet slightly. 

“And you were with Dylan before?” Again, Patton confirmed this statement, looking away from the man in front of him. 

“I see,” Jones mumbled, “well, come on- I want to see what tricks they thought you.”

Patton nodded and silently followed the man to the big tent in the middle. And what followed was him showing Jones everything he’d been taught in the past years. From there on, they started working on an act, they started practicing and rehearsing to get it right. And quite quickly, he was ready to perform. 

Patton tended to stick around Roman - and with that, his twin Remus - seeing as that was someone he actually knew, and they knew what was going on better than he did. And especially when he was new here, it was nice to have someone around so he didn't have to… you know- figure things out himself. And it seemed like Roman liked having him around, so that was nice. As nice as things could be in these circumstances. This circus was still an absolute shithole. But Patton knew that he wouldn’t be able to do anything about this situation anyways. He had nowhere to go, nothing safe to go back to. At this point, nowhere was really safe. So until then… he’d be stuck here.


	4. CHAPTER THREE: VIRGIL'S STORY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Child abuse/neglect, something similar to conversion therapy, shocks, experimental treatments, I think it qualifies as torture, human trafficking

The next arrival at Mister Jones’ Circus was a young kid named Virgil Agnes. He was only seven when he officially came to the Circus, but even then, he had had to endure more pain than most ‘normal’ people would in a lifetime.

When they found out that they were expecting a child, his parents actually were quite excited, in their own way. They did not have any issues with children, not at all! As long as they were… well… ‘normal’. And it was just Virgil’s bad luck that he was not what his parents would call normal. 

His enhancement wasn’t something that showed itself like the powers of the ones before. He could turn his skin and even his bones into something much like steel, just so he wouldn’t get hurt. It wasn’t exactly something he could turn on and off at will, but more something out of self defense. A mechanism that his body seemed to have developed to protect the little kid from any harm from outside. 

They found out about this power when Virgil was about three years old. His mother was busy making dinner and the little kid had seen her using a knife. He was intrigued by the shiny object and tried to grasp it. Despite his mother seeing this and trying to stop him from grabbing it, he just managed to hit at the handle and it fell off the counter. But instead of it cutting into his foot, the knife just shattered. And the little kid was unharmed. 

Now, most parents would be relieved at this. Worried, shocked, frustrated at their kid, at themselves. But relieved. Because at least their child was okay, unscathed. 

But Maria Agnes wasn’t like most parents. 

Sure, she noticed the strange occurrence, she scolded her kid for being so stupid, and pushed him out of the kitchen, but she didn’t do anything with this information. She just cleaned up the mess her son had made and continued cooking. When dinner was ready, she discussed it with her husband. 

The three of them were sat at the dinner table, ready to start eating, when she brought it up. She explained what had happened, what she had seen. 

“So you’re saying he’s a freak?” Andrew asked, disgust evident at he looked at Virgil, who didn’t seem to be aware of anything that was going on. And how could he? He was only three years, after all. 

“There definitely isn’t anything wrong with the knife,” Maria scoffed as she took a bite of her food. 

“God damn it,” he muttered under his breath, sending his son another glare, as if it was  _ his  _ fault that he had these weird gifts. “Do you know what else he’s got?”

“Not yet.”

Andrew scowled and grumbled something under his breath. The rest of dinner was tense and silent. The two adults definitely did not seem to be happy with the newly found gifts their child apparently possessed. But it wasn’t as if there was something they could do about this. At least… not now. 

Maria and Andrew were both quite involved in the market in Enhanced Beings. They never bought or sold anyone - not themselves - but they did host events that were meant for auctions, they financed these events and helped organise them. They visited the circus regularly, and even maintained close relationships with some employees at Mister Jones’ Circus. 

So, they asked around a bit, and discussed their situation with some of those friends, and that’s when someone referred them to a friend of theirs; a therapist who was researching ways of ‘curing’ Empowered Beings from their gifts. This recommendation did come with the warning that so far, nothing had worked yet. It either ended in death of the client, or just… no result at all. But the couple didn’t seem to care about that much and contacted this therapist as soon as they got home. 

The therapist, who had chosen to introduce himself as Doctor Jekyll - obviously fake, but an interesting choice - was eager to treat little Virgil. Especially since his ability would allow for some more… extreme tools. 

First, he scheduled an appointment with the kid’s parents, just to learn what Virgil was like, which powers he possessed, and any other information that might be relevant to the treatment. He made a plan and discussed it with the couple, who quickly agreed - anything to make sure their son would be normal. Anything so they could go through life without being embarrassed of their kid. 

The therapy wouldn’t be cheap, they were well aware of that. But that was okay. Money was not an issue for the two of them, and if this worked, it would be worth every single penny. They just really, really hoped that it would work. Because if it didn’t… they honestly weren’t sure what to do. But they weren’t quite there yet. First, they’d have to try it. 

At first, Jekyll started off with some more traditional cures - if you could even speak of traditional in a case like this; after all, therapy like this had never worked and it was purely experimental at this point. 

The cures he labelled traditional consisted of methods like classical conditioning using shock therapy. While this wasn’t a literal cure, it could make sure that the client would refuse to use their powers by making a connection between using their powers and the following pain. With Virgil, though, this was trickier. Virgil was too young to actually understand he had powers, and because of the nature of those powers, Jekyll had to actively stimulate his them in order to activate them. But soon enough, he had figured out how to enforce this. 

He continued this for a few weeks; months even. Three sessions a week of about two hours that only consisted of Jekyll putting Virgil into danger and then administering a shock when the kid would use his powers to protect himself. 

After a few months of literally just doing this, Jekyll attempted the same experiment without using a shock. He would put Virgil into danger - his preferred method seemed to be using a knife to try and stab him - and when the kid’s skin turned to steel again, the doctor found that he did momentarily panic and flinch, expecting a shock that would never come. But the fear didn’t prevent him from using his powers. After a few more sessions and some experiments, he figured out that the activation of these powers seemed to be subconscious. The small kid didn’t even know that it was happening. So, he had to change things up, then.

His next experiment was something much more experimental than the one before. It was entirely based on the theory that Virgil’s subconscious powered his powers. So, obviously, Jekyll needed to find something to suppress that subconscious urge. I mean… duh. 

So, the doctor tried to create a sort of serum that was supposed to do this work when injected into the bloodstream. When he tried this, the sessions were reduced to one hour once a week, to allow the serum to do its work and pass out of the body if it didn’t work. We couldn’t have the previous attempts mess with the serums, of course. That wouldn’t give a representative outcome. 

Unfortunately, none of the serums seemed to have the desired effect. Some of them did have somewhat of an effect in the direction that Jekyll wanted, but these effects were only temporary and weak. But they mostly appeared to succeed at making the young boy feel sick and nauseous.

And even after this, Jekyll tried experiment after experiment, doing everything in his power to cure Virgil of his powers. But unfortunately, all failed. It just helped hurt Virgil, scare him and traumatise him. But his powers were still there. 

Outside of therapy, Virgil’s life wasn’t that great either. His parents were anything but happy with him and his powers - as if he could help it that he was born like this - and they didn’t shy away from this fact. 

They didn’t bother sending him to school; they didn’t want to risk him outing himself as an Empowered Being and thus putting shame on their entire family. So Virgil spent pretty much all his time either at home, or in therapy. And to be fair- neither was really… great. 

Therapy was nearly torturous, with Jekyll just trying out new experiments and therapies to get rid of his powers - Virgil didn’t understand what he was doing, why he was doing it, but he knew that he shouldn’t have these weird powers. Even if he didn’t understand his powers. 

Home life wasn’t fun either. His parents seemed to think he wasn’t worth all the effort anymore. Not now that they knew he was Empowered. A freak. Sure, they gave him food, they made sure he didn’t die. But outside of that? They barely tried. Most of the time they didn’t pay attention to him, and when they did… he kind of wished they didn’t. They tended to just yell at him for doing something wrong, locking him in his room for doing something wrong, you name it. The only reason it seemed to not get physical was because they didn’t want to break their hands. Not that that made it any better or more bearable. But it was a minor comfort. It could be worse, right?

At night, Virgil found himself wondering why his parents were like this. Why  _ he  _ was like this. He truly did not know what was going on with him. He knew that he couldn’t really get hurt, and that that was a bad thing according to his parents and Doctor Jekyll. He didn’t understand why, but he knew it was bad. And he’d find himself wishing that he was normal. Maybe, if he wished hard enough, he would one day wake up normal, and his parents would love him again. 

For three years, this carried on. And yet, nothing seemed to work. So eventually, Maria and Andrew decided to stop the therapy sessions. It seemed to be just a giant waste of money. Nothing had been achieved yet. Not really. Virgil still had his powers, after all. 

A few months after they had pulled their kid out of therapy, the couple made a decision. They would sell their kid to the circus. It really was the only option left. It was either living with a freak like him, or getting rid of him. And they knew that they didn’t want to live with this. 

So, one day, Maria and Andrew told Virgil that they were going out and he had to come with them. He hesitantly followed his parents outside and to the car, not saying a word as he got in. For the entire car ride, he remained silent. He found that not saying anything was the best way to make sure his parents wouldn’t get angry at him. So he just looked outside and tried to count the cars he saw on the way to wherever they were going, though he kept losing count. Especially when they made it to the highway. 

After about thirty minutes, they left the highway and took smaller and smaller roads, eventually getting to a path that was almost completely just mud. It took them at least thirty more minutes to get to where they were going, and Virgil started to recognize the surroundings a bit. He knew this was the path they took if they were going to the Circus, but that was usually at night, or late in the evening, and it wasn’t even noon yet. 

Virgil got out of the car when his parents told him to and waited next to the vehicle until they would tell him where they would be going. But it seemed that that would not be necessary, because someone came up to them already. It was a tall, muscular man; bald with a black beard and mustache. He greeted the couple loudly, barely even paying attention to the small kid who was hiding a few steps behind them. 

The adults talked for a few minutes together, and Virgil just waited. He didn’t know what they were doing here, and he didn’t want to get lost, or anger his parents, so he just sat down and leaned against the tyre of the car, playing with the grass. 

“So,” the man eventually called, approaching the kid. “This is Virgil, then?”

The kid in question startled and quickly scrambled to his feet, looking up at the man with big eyes. Was he supposed to do something? 

“It is,” Maria nodded, following Jones towards her kid. “He doesn’t say much, but-”

“That’s perfect,” Jones grinned, looking to the couple again. “Steel skin, you said, huh?”

Again, Maria nodded, as he husband confirmed this. “And probably bones, too,” he added. “That’s what Jekyll said, at least.”

“Good, good,” the taller man mused to himself. “We can certainly work with that.” 

“So you’ll do it?” There was a weird edge of hopefulness in Maria’s voice as she asked this question, awaiting an answer. 

“I’ll do it,” Jones nodded. “Let’s do the paperwork, shall we?” He gestured for the couple to follow him, and as he walked away, he pointed at two people who just came out one of the tents around and ordered them to “Take care of the kid.” (His words, not mine).

Virgil looked in confusion as the three adults left without him, and made to follow them, when two others came up to him. They looked fairly similar, and even though they weren’t intimidating in the slightest, Virgil tensed up and stopped in his tracks as they approached. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” one of the two said, crouching down in front of him. “You can trust me, alright? I’m Roman, that’s Remus, my brother. Can we know your name?”

Virgil looked at the two and hesitated. He didn’t know who these people were and what they wanted from him. But then again… his parents told him to always be polite to their friends. And since they knew the other man… were these their friends? They wouldn’t like it if they were and he was rude to them. So maybe it was just best to be nice to them, right? 

“Virgil,” he finally responded, looking at the men in front of him for a second before turning his eyes to the ground again. He was too scared of doing something wrong, and the two men in front of him could see that. 

So they both sat down, making sure they kept enough distance so the little kid wouldn’t feel too overwhelmed. 

After a few moments, they asked Virgil if they could show him around, and the child hesitantly nodded. The two seemed nice enough, and it wouldn’t hurt. His parents didn’t seem to be coming back any time soon, so maybe this was a nice way to kill some time until they’d be back. 

So, after making sure that it was really okay, Roman picked Virgil up and he and his brother walked around a bit, telling Virgil where everything was, introduced him to a few people around, and asked him about himself. The little kid was still hesitant to speak at first, but he warmed up to the twins quite quickly - as they were some of the first people who seemed to show genuine interest in him, and they were really really nice. 

After a while, Virgil saw his parents leaving the tent they had entered when they arrived, and he expected them to call for him so they could go back home. He even started to ask Roman if he could put him down, so he could go back to his parents. But they didn’t wait for him to get back. No, they just stepped inside the car and started it, driving off without giving Virgil a chance to even walk in their direction. 

At this sight, Virgil started to panic and struggle. His movements quickly became so frantic that Roman couldn’t hold the kid anymore, and Virgil made use of this moment by breaking free and trying to run after the car. This, of course, was a hopeless case, but his parents couldn’t just leave him here, could they? As nice as Roman and Remus were… he couldn’t stay here!

But it didn’t take long for the kid to stumble and fall down, still panicking and crying and hoping his parents would notice that he was still missing, so they’d come back to him. But they didn’t. Only Roman and Remus came to his side, the former gently picking Virgil up again, rubbing his back. 

Virgil just didn’t understand why his parents would leave like that! They knew he was here, why would they leave without him? Why would they leave him here? He didn’t understand.

The twins took him to the tent that was supposed to be used just for meals and sat there for a while, comforting Virgil as well as they could. He asked them why his parents would do that, and they told him that they didn’t know - even though that was a lie; they didn’t know how to tell this kid their true reasoning. Especially when he was this upset. 

As Virgil cuddled close to Roman, hiding his face in his side, the two siblings exchanged a look. They both knew what Virgil was going through all too well. They hadn’t been in the exact same situation, but they knew how he felt. They had been there themselves. 

Eventually, Virgil did calm down and he leaned against Roman’s side, with Remus on his other side, and he nearly fell asleep. His breakdown had been quite demanding and he was exhausted by now. He just wanted to stay like this and sleep. But unfortunately, that couldn’t last. 

He slept for a little while, but eventually, someone else came in - Patton; Roman had introduced him already - and said that the twins were needed for rehearsals. They reluctantly got up - despite Virgil trying to hold on to them as well as he could; he did not want to be left behind again - and left, saying that Patton could take care of him while they were gone. Both Roman and Remus reassured him that Patton was sweet, and that Virgil could trust him. And their judgement was probably right, but Virgil was still wary. 

And Patton tried his best to help Virgil. He made sure that he was comfortable, he stayed close, he talked to him. But if he was being honest… it didn’t help him completely. Maybe about 90%. Especially when Jones came in with one of those weird metal necklaces that everyone else seemed to wear and put it around Virgil’s neck as well, despite the young boy not wanting him to at all. He was in another state of panic trying to get it off, despite Patton trying to tell him that it was to protect him. Virgil didn’t like this tight, cold thing around his neck, and he wanted it off. But it wouldn’t move. 

Simple to say… his first day at the Circus wasn’t the best. And it wasn’t even over. Because at night, when everyone was led to the sleeping tent, Virgil trailed behind, not knowing what to do. Roman came to his help and pointed him in the direction of a small cage on the other side of the tent. It was far away from him and Remus, but it was the only one that was free at the moment. 

But Virgil simply shook his head and clung to Roman’s leg. “Can’t I stay with you?” he asked softly, looking up at the man with big eyes. “Please?”

“I wish you could, kiddo,” Roman muttered as he crouched down to look at Virgil. “But that’s not allowed. You should just get in here. It’s going to be okay, alright? We’ll be right here.”

But still… Virgil would not budge, and it hurt Roman so much because he  _ knew  _ how terrified this kid had to be. He knew how scary it was to end up in such a place, all alone, far from anything that you knew. And he just wished that he could do anything about it, but he was well aware that doing that would definitely get him in trouble. And possibly Virgil, too.

Then, Jones and a few employees came in, to check if everyone was in their cage, and to lock the doors. When he saw Roman and the kid in the middle of the tent, Jones halted, the employees stopping right behind him. 

“Why aren’t you in your places?” Jones asked sternly as Roman scrambled to his feet, Virgil hiding behind his leg. 

“I- I… he was scared,” Roman stammered, trying to make eye contact with Jones, but finding himself unable to. “I just wanted to-”

“Make sure the kid knows his place,” Jones huffed to one of the employees behind him, who silently nodded and made their way over to Virgil, grabbing his arms tightly. 

The kid panicked once more and struggled, trying to get himself free as the employee tried to get himself in the cage meant for him. Roman bit his lip, unable to look at the scene. He hated seeing this, he had to do something but-

“Please, don’t you see he’s terrified?” he asked, his volume surprising everyone in the tent - but most of all, himself. Even the employee trying to push Virgil into the cage stopped their attempts. He took a step back with a shake of his head, immediately trying to correct his mistake. “I- I mean…”

”Would you like to repeat that, Roman?” Jones asked harshly, stepping closer to the younger man, who stumbled back, shaking his head frantically. An icy silence had washed over the tent, everyone was listening intently, trying to see how this would play out. Most of all, Patton and Remus.

“No, no,” Roman stammered, looking at his feet, “I’m sorry, sir, I just-” He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down “I just… he doesn’t understand what’s happening. He- he’s terrified. Please, can he… can’t he stay with me? Or Remus? At least- at least until he understands.”

“Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?”

Roman shook his head frantically, still not meeting Jones’ gaze. “No, sir.”

“Are you sure? Because it sounded a whole lot like you just did.”

“I’m sure, sir,” Roman tried. “Please. He’s too young to understand. Just… give him a bit of time. Please, that’s all.”

Jones didn’t move for a while, studying Roman intently, but the other was too scared to even look up. He remembered all too well how terrified he was when he first got here, and he would do anything to make sure Virgil didn’t have to endure the same thing. 

“Very well,” Jones finally said - once again surprising everyone in the room. “He stays with Remus. And you-” He pointed at Roman as he stepped even closer. “You’re in solitary until tomorrow’s show. Understood?”

Roman closed his eyes, but nodded. Repercussions could be expected. He didn’t like it- but at least Virgil was okay. Sort of. 

“Yes, sir,” he said softly as the employee let go of Virgil. Roman looked up and saw the kid looking at him with wide eyes. Carefully, he got closer to him, half expecting to be pulled away. But he wasn’t. So, he crouched down in front of the kid and gently took one of his hands. “You’re with Remus tonight, okay? I have to go now, but I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

Virgil frowned, trying to figure out what this ‘soledary’ thing was. “Where are you going?”

Roman shook his head. “Nowhere big,” he lied, brushing a bit of hair out of the little boy’s face. “I just need to do something. I’ll be back before you know it, just stay with Remus.”

Virgil kept looking at the older man as he got up and left. He didn’t like this situation, but he didn’t quite know why. Something just felt off to him. But he didn’t protest. No, he knew better than to make a scene. He just nodded and looked at Roman as he walked off, Jones following closely behind, before going to Remus. The employees didn’t even need to make him. 

Remus was sat on the mattress in his cage, still looking outside as he tried to see if he could get a glimpse of his twin. He always hated being separated like this. Not to say that he didn’t think that what Roman did was right - hell, he probably would have done the same if Roman hadn’t beaten him to it - but it just sucked. He hated seeing his twin getting himself into trouble. 

But when the young kid sat down next to him and cuddled up to his side, he seemed to awake from his trance. The door to his cage was slammed shut and locked, and after checking all the other doors to make sure they were locked, the employees left the tent and closed it off, darkness now taking over. 

Virgil whimpered and buried himself deeper into Remus’ side, who gently stroked his back, doing all he could to comfort the boy as he tried his best to lay down without disturbing Virgil too much.

“It’s okay,” he said soft, holding the kid close. “Just sleep, okay? I’ll be here.”

“Why are they like this?” Virgil tried softly, pulling away a bit to try and look at Remus, despite the pitch black darkness in the tent. 

At this, Remus hesitated. He could not possibly tell this seven-year-old the truth about the discrimination and prejudice that normal people held towards people like them - things that they had dealt with for most of their lives. But this child… he couldn’t explain any of this. Not just because Virgil was seven and wasn’t supposed to deal with any of this, but also because it was vague and complicated, even to him. So how was he supposed to answer? 

“I’m not sure,” he finally settled - something that wasn’t even a complete lie. Because he really did not know why things were like this. “Just go to sleep. We can think about that later, yeah?”

Virgil hummed softly and cuddled closer to Remus again, as the latter pulled the blanket over the two of them, making sure that Virgil wouldn’t suffocate somehow. When he had done all of this, he finally laid back down and allowed himself to drift off. 

Roman was gone for most of the next day, and nobody would tell Virgil why. They said that he was going to be okay, that he didn’t have to worry about it. But they didn’t tell him where he really went. Which was maybe a tad bit frustrating, but whatever. 

Remus and Patton took care of Virgil for most of that day, when they weren’t rehearsing. Virgil didn’t have to rehearse yet, since he still hadn’t gained full control of his powers - not consciously at least. So for now, he was safe. 

Granted, that didn’t last too long. The circus employees treated Virgil harshly, like they did with any of the Empowereds at the Circus. Even though Roman and Remus tried to stop them, stating that Virgil had no idea what was going on and that punishing him would be unfair - speaking from their own experience. This didn’t really give much result, other than that the twins would just get themselves into trouble themselves, and if they were lucky, they’d let up on the kid for a bit. Which was honestly all that mattered to them. A kid didn’t belong in this environment. 

Even as years passed, and Virgil grew up, the twins kept an eye on him. He was just… too tiny to be here, and they wanted to be sure that he was okay. Okay being a relative term, of course, because no one here was really okay. 

When he was about ten years old, Virgil started rehearsals. Jones thought he’d gained enough control of his powers to make it into a show. Sure, he needed a little bit of training to really be able to carry out this performance, but after a year of that, he was good to go. Much like Roman and Remus, he was thirteen years old when he started his first performance. 


	5. CHAPTER FOUR: DAMON'S STORY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: The usual, mostly; abuse, violence, human trafficking, kidnapping, just a lot of badness in this chapter

Damon Carmen arrived not long after Virgil had, and the twins - who were, at this point, a few of the oldest acts at the circus, and had lived this life far longer than anyone else - could immediately see that this guy had been through a lot, and immediately took him under their wing. As they tended to do with the Circus’ new recruits - clearly. 

And it was easy to see they were quite right on their conclusion. Damon had been in the circuit for quite a few years at that moment, and it had been a rough couple of years on top of that. 

When he was three years old, weird things started happening around him. Every now and then, mostly when his imagination started to wander to strange places, odd things popped up. Creatures that shouldn’t exist appeared out of nowhere, strange phenomena, rainbows, whatever, it just... came out of nowhere. Damon’s moms noticed this - because how could they not? - and immediately started researching their child’s abilities. Quite quickly, they came to the conclusion that his power was an element of something known as reality warping. His specific power was conjuring up hallucinations and illusions. That’s what it looked like, at least.

Terrified of having their kid harassed or taken away for his powers, they did their best to try to teach him to control his powers before they felt comfortable sending him to school. Which is why, when the time came that they had to start thinking about school, they chose to homeschool him. At least for the time being; that was way safer than public school. 

He learned to control his powers better, and even managed to extend them, learning new things every now and then. And even if the kid understood that using his powers could be bad for him, he couldn’t help but try new things out occasionally. Only in the safety of his own home, though. Where no one could see him.

After elementary school, Damon went to a public school. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get to go for long. No one really knew how this happened, but somehow, someone found out about his powers. And one day when he was only fourteen years old, someone knocked him out when he was on his way back home. When he woke up… he was in a small, grey room he didn’t recognize. There was nothing there, except for one small mattress and the door on the other side of the room. There were some vague voices outside, but none which he knew. He was terrified - and rightfully so. 

He rushed to the door and tried to open it, but failed. It was locked and wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard he tried. So instead, he just sat down back on the mattress and waited for someone to open the door for him. No need in trying to force open a door that seemed to be way stronger than he was, right? He’d only end up hurting himself, and if he was honest… he didn’t want to draw any attention to himself. Who knew where he was and what kinds of people were around here? Who knew what they were going to do with him? If Damon was being honest… he didn’t want to find out. 

Eventually, someone did finally check on Damon. A tall, muscular man came in the small room, looking at the kid with an ominous smirk. Just one look was more than enough to frighten the small child, who scooted back into the far corner of the room, his heart racing. He had heard so many horror stories about what happened to people like him and he was pretty sure that he would not get out of this room alive. And if he did- he would probably wish that he hadn’t. 

“So, you’re the new recruit then,” he drawled slowly, looking the kid up and down. “Not bad. What’s your name?”

The kid looked at the man and for a second, he wanted to respond. To tell his name, just so he could get out easy without getting himself hurt too much. But he decided that he didn’t even care. He knew that it was going to be bad for him either way. No matter what happened, things would suck for him. Maybe he could get himself killed, because really… that sounded like the best alternative out of every other possibility. 

“You’re not talking?” the man growled, getting closer and closer to Damon, a dangerous glare on his face. “That’s fine. We’ve got methods.”

He picked Damon up by his throat and pushed him into the wall harshly, squeezing only slightly. The kid struggled slightly, grasping at the hand that pinned him to the wall as his air supply was cut off. He couldn’t breathe and it made him panic for a moment. Until he realised that passing out might not even be the worst possibility. So even though his instincts protested wildly, the kid stopped his struggling and just let himself hang limply, hoping that his plan would work. 

Which, unfortunately, it didn’t. The man seemed to be aware of Damon’s plan after just a few moments and he threw him down, pinning the kid to the floor. 

“When someone asks you a question,” he hissed, bringing his face uncomfortably close to Damon’s, “you answer. Do you understand that, little brat?” 

Damon closed his eyes but again, didn’t respond. He was terrified but he wasn’t going to cooperate. He couldn’t. Just a few more moments and maybe - hopefully - he wouldn’t even have to deal with this. The man was already pretty worked up, so maybe…

His captor growled and punched the kid. Hard. “Do you understand?” Damon bit his lip, trying not to pay attention to the man or the sharp stinging sensation in his cheek. Every part of him, every fibre of his being yelled at him to stop being such a little shit and just do what was asked of him. He was just getting himself into trouble like this. He just had to do what the man asked and everything would be okay. But he couldn’t. He really, really couldn’t. It was as if he was petrified. He was too scared to speak. He couldn’t.

This lack of response  _ really  _ pissed off the man. After a few more punches and kicks, Damon was pretty much forced to answer. Just because he couldn’t take another hit. He quickly babbled out his name, apologising to the man - why was he apologising? He didn’t know. He didn’t have to, but… he felt like he had to. Maybe it was just because all his emotions were playing up and he was scared and hurt and maybe this would make it all better. He was terrified. He didn’t even want to be here. He just wanted to go home and forget that this ever happened and just be happy. But obviously… he couldn’t have that. But maybe someone would find him. He doubted it but… maybe. 

And this was basically how it went for a while. Damon would try his best to stay strong and not give in. He tried to keep on to his tiny bit of hope that someone would rescue him. He held onto this fantasy, trying to imagine what would happen if they found him here. And even though it was difficult, it did sort of help him to continue. He didn’t want to be a whole broken mess when he got back home. 

And yes, it hurt him. His refusals to cooperate only pissed off his tormentors more and more, and it never turned out good for him. But he learned how to deal with that. Or well… he tried to. 

After a little less than a year, though, the people he was with got sick of him. He wasn’t the perfectly obedient, quiet thing they wanted him to be. So they sold him to some people close to them - not for much, since he was still a little shit - hoping that they would be able to train him better. But these people weren’t content with him either and sold him again, and so it went on for a little while, until he ended up at a Training Facility. A place that, as the name might suggest, was meant exclusively to ‘train’ Empowered Beings. It was usually on a way bigger scale than anything else, and also a lot more shady.. Even compared to the rest of the circuit. Which should say a lot about how shady it was.

When Damon first arrived there, seventeen years old, he was thrown into a small cell, hardly big enough for him to lay down, hardly tall enough for him to stand up. It was small enough for him to sit down, but he barely had much more room to move outside of that. It was pitch black and he could see nothing. He could only hear some voices and screams coming from the other cells on the same corridor as his, but it was only vague, as the heavy door to his cell stopped most of the sounds. 

It was cold in his cell, and the stone walls and floors felt more like ice than stone. Damon’s old and torn clothing did not do enough to keep him warm. But somehow, he still fell asleep, shivering and freezing cold. And when he woke up, he had no idea how long it had been. His neck was stiff and his entire body was cold and sore, but he was still alone. And to be fair… he was happy he was. Every moment he spent by himself was heavenly. He had no idea what was to come and he didn’t want to find out either. He had to, eventually. But for now, he would cherish the moments that he was alone. 

Damon didn’t know how long it lasted. It could have been hours, it could have been minutes. Every moment in this icy cell felt like an eternity to him. But eventually, the door was thrown open, the heavy metal connected to the stone wall with a loud clang that made Damon flinch back. The bright light that flooded his little cell was a huge change from the darkness of the cell and he had to take a few moments to adjust, blinking wildly. 

In those few moments, the person who had stepped inside his cell and made their way towards him, picking him up by the throat and pinning him to the wall. 

“Damon Carmen, is it?” they growled, their face annoyingly close to Damon’s. Taken back by the sudden invasion, Damon couldn’t do anything but nod. “Good.” He was then released and stumbled to the ground. His captor grabbed his wrists and chained them together in front of him. “Come with me.”

He wasn’t given much of a choice, given that his wrists were bound together and that the person in front of him had the chain attached to them in their own hand. 

They tugged on the chain harshly as they left the cell, causing Damon to stumble to his feet wobbily. He could barely regain his footing before he was forced forwards again. They walked up a number of staircases, through a couple of corridors, into a large room. It was fairly empty - as far as he could see - with just a weird looking table and a few cabinets. Two other people were in the room, softly discussing something in the corner. As the two of them entered, the people looked up, and the female smirked. 

“That’s him?” she asked. At getting a confirming nod from the person holding him, she smirked. “Perfect. Get him ready then.”

Damon looked between the three people with wide eyes, wondering what she meant by getting him ready, but not willing to ask. The woman locked the door behind them as Damon was pulled towards the table, but he couldn’t let them do that. He didn’t speak, but he shook his head wildly and pulled on the chain, trying to get away from the table. He knew very well that it was useless; the door was locked, and he was outnumbered. But he didn’t want to- he couldn’t- he didn’t want to let this happen. He was so, so terrified of what might happen to him. 

At his protests, the person holding him was visibly quite annoyed and after a few attempts from Damon, they pulled on the chain with considerable force, and when Damon tripped towards them, they punched him in the face; hard enough to smack him into the table. He was quite disoriented after this and they took this opportunity to tie his chained hands to one end of the table, chaining his ankles to the legs of the table. 

They gagged and blindfolded him, and all that Damon had to go on now was his hearing. He heard the people in the room whispering to each other, he heard footsteps, followed by a slight silence. But he had no idea what was going on, what anyone was going to do or when. He heard a door being opened and shut, followed by a few more moments of silence. 

And then the first sensation of a whip cracking across his back. Damon flinched and let out a soft whimper, instinctively trying to move away, even though that was pretty much impossible. He pushed his forehead against the table and squeezed his eyes shut behind the blindfold. The whip hit again and again, a total of 37 times - over the past years, Damon had developed a habit of counting every time they hit him; both as a vague attempt at a distraction, and as a way to figure out when it was all going to be over.

When he got to 37, it suddenly stopped and he heard muffled footsteps again, walking around the table and stopping right in front of him. A hand gently caressed his cheek, and Damon flinched instinctively, which hurt his already injured back and he let out another inaudible whimper. He wasn’t gonna say that this was the worst he’d ever gotten, but it was by no means pleasant. 

“Listen here, sweetheart,” the woman he’d seen before said sweetly, though her voice was laced with venom. “In here, you do what you say, when we say it okay? I’ve heard you have had a little bit of trouble with that concept, but we won’t tolerate that now, do you understand?”

Damon was unable to respond and just whimpered. This caused the woman to grab his chin tightly and dig her nails into his skin. “I asked you a question,” she hissed, “and unless you wanna start over…”

He let out a few small whimpers in response and shook his head as well as he could, with her still clutching his chin. 

“You don’t, huh?” she mused. “Well, then you better answer the question, darling. “Do you. Understand?”

More to spare himself further harm than anything else, Damon nodded. He didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of responding, but he knew he couldn’t stay like this any longer. He couldn’t go through all of that again. So he had no choice but to respond. 

“Very well,” the woman hummed contently as she stepped back, releasing his chin from her grip. “I’m glad we’re clear.”

Damon heard her walking further back and she - or someone else, but he was sure it was her - snapping her fingers. For a few moments, Damon hoped they would release him from this uncomfortable position and take him back to his cell. But instead, someone put headphones on him, blocking out all the noises from outside. And then… nothing happened. It would seem that the trio had left, leaving him there. Unable to see, to hear, to move. 

Damon wasn’t sure how long they kept him there. It could have been a few minutes, hours, a day, or even more. He would have believe anything. The only time someone came in, was to disinfect the wounds on his back - just so he wouldn’t die, because that would mean he would have been a waste of time, and they really did not want that. It wasn’t their goal to kill anyone in here. Just to train them.

But after what felt like a few centuries, someone finally came to get Damon. They first released his legs and arms - though they still kept his wrists together - and then removed the headphones and gag. The blindfold stayed on. Without a word, he was tugged out of the room by the chain around his wrist and pulled back to his cell. The blindfold was removed just before they pushed him in and locked the door. And now he was all alone again. 

This was how most of the two years in that place was spent. Alone, in his cell. Occasionally someone would come by with food, water, or to grant him access to the bathroom. After the first few months, though, more actual ‘training’ came in. Meaning that he’d be taken to a room somewhere else in the building and made to do… anything, really. And if he refused, well… the repercussions weren’t really what one would call pretty.

And so it happened that eventually, most of Damon’s fighting spirit had disappeared. Or at least drowned out by his fear and trauma. And when the people at the Training Facility were content with the result, he was auctioned off. 

Damon, nineteen years old at the time, was sold off to the highest bidder, who just so happened to be employed at Mister Jones’ Circus. 

The drive up to the Circus was horribly silent. Damon didn’t mind it too much; he hadn’t dared to talk much lately anyways. But that did not take away that it was awkward and made the atmosphere in the car so much tenser. If he had dared, Damon would have jumped out of the car right there, moving or not. He even found himself imagining what would happen if he managed to get out of the vehicle and get away, like he used to do when he was younger. But he was too afraid. He knew he couldn’t run, and there would be repercussions. He did not want that to happen. 

They eventually got to the Circus and Damon did not protest as he was dragged out of the car, towards one of the tents, and collared. He didn’t make a single move or a single sound as all of this happened. The more quiet he was, the better things would be for him. He heard the employees talking about him, about how perfectly quiet he was and about the information that the Training Facility gave them about him, and he ignored them. Tried to block out the sounds. He didn’t like having to hear them talking about him like he was some sort of object rather than a human being, but he wasn’t in any state to do anything. He was too weak to fight and he couldn’t use his powers - he knew well enough what the collar was for - so he had no choice but to let them do what they wanted. 

After the employees were done, they sent in one of the twins - Remus this time - to show him around. You know the drill by now; they went around the terrain, talked a tiny little bit here and there, but they didn’t dare say much. Remus noticed how quiet Damon was, how little he told about himself and how his answers to questions were as short as they could possibly be. Habits that Remus knew well enough; Damon wasn’t the first act to have come from a Training Facility. Most of them eventually learned to get more open, bit by bit. It was a long process, for all of them. But the damage done wasn’t  _ completely  _ irreparable. Not all of it, anyways. 

They finished the tour in the tent where they’d eat. There were Roman and Patton, with young Virgil in between them, softly talking to the kid. They stopped what they were doing when Remus came in with the new guy and greeted them with a small smile. When they were close enough, Virgil got up on the bench and held out his hands, non-verbally asking for Remus to pick him up. Which he happily obeyed, holding the kid close. Virgil talked more than he used to, but he still tended to make these requests silently, as if he was afraid that he wasn’t allowed to ask. 

“Guys, this is Damon,” Remus introduced with a slight nod to the new guy as Virgil snuggled closer to him. Then, he turned back to Damon. “That’s my twin Roman, Patton, and this one is Virgil.”

Damon managed a small smile and greeted the others carefully. He gave Virgil a quick glance and he couldn’t help but wonder why a kid of his age was here, before he looked away. 

“Well… there’s not much to do right now,” Remus said slowly, studying Damon as he did so, “so you can… go do your own thing. You’re also free to join us, if you want. Don’t think we’re up to much.”

He moved to sit down as he said this, making sure to keep Virgil steady. The little kid made a soft noise and hugged the man tighter. 

“Are you sure?” Damon asked, slowly looking up to meet Remus’ gaze. “I mean I- I can go, you don’t-”

“Are you crazy?” Remus retorted - his voice louder than he intended and he saw Damon flinch away and move to apologize. “I’m sorry. It’s okay. No, you’re more than welcome to stay.”

“I’m not a lot of fun. I haven’t really- I’ve…”

“That’s okay,” Patton reassured him, “it’s all okay. I’m sure you’re great. I’d love to get to know you.”

Even Roman agreed, and while Damon really doubted it, he couldn’t exactly say no. He knew that it was either staying with them, or remaining by himself. In this place he didn’t know, where he didn’t know the rules. And while he didn’t want to force himself on them… he would take that over having to find his way by himself. Maybe they wouldn’t be so bad if he got to know them a little bit better. 

During his stay at the Circus, Damon really did learn to open up a little bit more. The Circus was less strict than the Training Facility - which wasn’t hard, in all honesty, the training facility was horribly strict - and having some people to talk to was helpful as well. The fear of doing something wrong remained, but at least he talked more than he used to. And he became slightly more confident in his input. Of course, a lot of it still remained. But hey, progress is progress, right? 

A few weeks after he arrived at the Circus, when he had gotten a little bit of time to settle in, he started his training. The employees were excited to work with someone with the kind of powers Damon had, so there was a lot they wanted to try out before they really could make a definite plan for his act. Which is part of the reason why it took him relatively long before he could start performing - not that he minded that. Even if he hated this predicament, any day he didn’t have to perform was alright. But eventually… the day came of his first performance. 

From day one, he stuck with the twins, Virgil and Patton. They were sweet and helpful and probably the best thing about this entire place - even though there weren’t that many good things about this place to begin with. It was comforting to be around them, more than any of the others. Even though everyone at the Circus was nice enough to be around - after all, they kind of had to stick together; they couldn’t afford to be hateful to each other with so much hate going around already. Damon just felt more comfortable around the twins and the little group they’d gathered around themselves. 

The night of his first act was… hectic. He knew well enough what was expected of him - mostly because he had had the time to observe things when he was waiting outside, and from what the others had told him about it. So he followed all of them to the tent where they’d wait for some employee to fetch them, usually a few minutes before they were up. After their act was over, they’d go back to the tent and wait for the ending of the show. Then, usually some guests would come backstage and they’d be forced to be polite and social until they left. Not the best way to spend one’s evening, but… they had no choice. 

The worst thing wasn’t even performing - when he wasn’t forced to, Damon tended to quite like performing, even if in this instance, he was way too scared of messing up to even try to enjoy it. No, the worst thing was what came after the show. Talking to the guests, who had paid money - some of them had paid hundreds, even thousands of dollars for a ticket and a chance to go backstage. They’d paid money,  _ knowing  _ that none of the performers were here willingly. Some, if not most of them, were involved in the trading business themselves and tried to make a deal with the employees, hoping to get a chance to buy one of the acts. They knew that they were forced and that they could not say no to anything they did, that they were forced to smile and accept it, because they’d get in trouble otherwise. That was the the absolute worst thing, and if it wasn’t for the Training Facility messing him up so much, he would have gladly bitten someone’s hand off. He despised this, but it could be worse. At least he wasn’t one of the twins. For them, it was even worse, since everyone fawned over the idea of Empowered Twins. 

But luckily, every day had to come to an end, and eventually, all the guests were escorted out of the tent, after which the performers were led back to their cages for the night.

And the next night, it would start all over again.


	6. CHAPTER FIVE: LOGAN'S STORY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: kidnapping, drugging, mentions of alcohol

Logan McKay was the last one to come into Mister Jones’ Circus, about eight years after Damon. He was, as they called it, an Original Recruit. In other words; he wasn’t bought from anyone. An employee of the Circus, or someone who maintained close ties with the Circus, ran into him on the street and handed him to the Circus.

He grew up in quite a safe environment. He grew up with his mother, Laura, his dad out of the picture. Bad breakup. His mother remarried when he was about fifteen, but he never really saw her new wife as a mother. He loved her, she was a good woman, but just not his mother.

His power started to manifest, like with pretty much every Empowered Being, early in his childhood. It was there pretty much since his first birthday, but it became hard to ignore when he was three years old. And when Laura figured it out, everything that had happened over the past two years suddenly made so much more sense.

Basically, Logan’s power was something that could be described as technopathy. He was able to interact with technology. He could manipulate it to his will - once he learned to actually control it, that is. When he was young, the power seemed to mostly show itself when he lost control of his emotions. Lights would start to flicker, the radio would turn on out of nowhere, or even something as small as a small glitch on a laptop screen or tv. And Laura was more fascinated than anything. Of course, she tried to help her son to control his powers, but she was fully accepting of his powers otherwise. He was still her son.

When Avery, Laura’s girlfriend at the time (who then became her wife) found out about this, though, she had a bit of trouble with it. She wasn’t one of the people who actively hated Empowered Beings, but in this society, there was a lot of prejudice against them, and she had grown up with those prejudices. Eventually, she turned out more than okay. Laura and Logan managed to convince her that none of that was true, and all those prejudices were lies spread by the wrong kind of people. And while it was a learning process - and still is - she realised how harmful these views were. She then tried everything she could to ban those from her mind. Something that’s a lot harder than it might sound, since she grew up like that. But the fact that she at least tried meant so much more than anything else.

Logan used his powers quite often. Mostly at home, where he knew it was safe to do so. But he also used them at school, albeit more covertly. He didn’t have to make physical contact with the object to interact with it, which meant that he could interface with them fairly easily. As long as he didn’t make it clear that he was doing so.

Contrary to a lot of Empowered Beings, Logan actually liked his powers, and he liked using them. He was more than aware of the issues that Empowered Beings went through, but he didn’t let this influence him. He was more upset at the people doing this, at the government not actively doing anything about it - or not enough at least - rather than letting it affect his feelings about himself. It wasn’t much use anyways. After all, how was he supposed to change it? He just had powers. Nothing he could do about it. So he just had to learn to live with it rather than beating himself up over something he couldn’t control.

However, it did so happen that exactly this attitude was what got him into trouble. Logan didn’t quite know how it happened - of course he didn’t; why would they tell him how they found him? - but… it did.

He had to admit it was partially his own fault. Not hugely, but… he wasn’t as mindful as he probably could’ve been. He had gotten away with having these powers for twenty-four years, and he was starting to get a little reckless. And when I say that, I don’t mean that he became reckless, but just… less guarded, and less aware of his surroundings. After all, nothing bad had happened for all these years. Why would something happen now, right?

On one fateful day, Logan had let some of his friends drag him out to a bar, to celebrate a birthday. Logan wasn’t one to go out a lot, but he couldn’t say no on this one occasion; his friends wouldn’t let him. He never liked most of the bars in town - the attendees most of all, they were never really his type of human being - but this was his friend’s birthday, so he was willing to make an exception. It was just one time.

And surprisingly, Logan even found himself having fun at the bar. Something he hadn’t quite expected, if he was being honest. However, at some point during the night, he found that his friends were gone; one of them had gone home early, and the other two were flirting with some guys. Logan didn’t mind this, though. He had been thinking about going home soon anyways, so maybe now was a good time to call it a night. But just as he was about to approach his friends and let them know he was leaving, someone stopped him.

“I’m sorry,” the man said giving Logan a slight smile. “I couldn’t help but notice you just now, and eh- I’m Peter,” he smiled as he extended a hand. “Peter Reeves. May I know your name?”

Logan was pretty hesitant as he shook the man’s hand, but still gave his name anyways. This Peter seemed nice enough, and Logan actually… trusted him.

“Well, Logan McKay, it’s a pleasure meeting you,” Peter smirked as he led Logan back to the bar, making just a little bit of small talk as they went.

“Excuse me,” he called to the bartender before Logan could protest. “Please make this lovely lad a drink.” He handed the bartender a few bills with a wink that Logan just missed. “Make it special, k?”

The bartender nodded as they grabbed the bills, looking at Peter with a small smile. Their eyes darted over to Logan for just a second, before they turned back to Peter himself. “Coming right up, sir.”

They then went off to make the drink while Peter and Logan made some more small talk. Peter was actually a surprisingly nice guy, even if Logan wasn’t someone who often tended to hang around with strangers at the bar. But this guy… he was an exception. He just seemed nice enough.

Soon enough, the bartender came back with a drink, Tequila Paralyzer, as they called it. Made with cola, tequila, kahlua and a bit of milk. Maybe a bit more alcohol than Logan would have preferred, but he thanked them nonetheless and took the drink, keeping it close. Just to be safe.

He took a careful sip of the drink. There was a relatively bitter taste to it, but Logan blamed it on the alcohol. Other than that, it was quite nice, actually.

“So, what do you do?” Peter asked, leaning in a bit more as Logan took another sip of the drink in his hand..

“I’m a student,” Logan responded as he put down the glass again. “Chemistry.”

Peter smiled with a soft hum. “Really? You doing good?”

Logan responded that, yeah, he was actually doing pretty well. He never really struggled with university, to be fair. It was so much easier than high school, mostly because this was something he actively chose to do. He did really well in high school as well, but this was more challenging, and more exciting.

They chatted for a bit more and Logan noted he began to feel more drowsy, dizzy and lightheaded. It was a if his arms became heavier, his legs weaker, and it really… wasn’t good. Even if his mind was clouded and slower than usual, he quickly realised what was going on. He really had to get out of here or find his friends before this could go wrong but-

“I’m sorry,” he dragged, slowly pushing himself away from the bar. “I gotta-”

He stumbled lightly and Peter grabbed his arm in an attempt to steady him. Logan’s throat felt incredibly dry and he just managed to fake a smile as he tried to gently shake off the hand holding onto him, but he didn’t manage. He had to get away from him but he didn’t know how.

Maybe… it was a stretch but maybe if he managed to cause a distraction…

Focussing his powers was a challenge in his current state of mind, but he managed to get a decent hold of the lights, and what he thought was the music installation. He just had to turn them off and make a run for it. There was an exit to his right, and a bathroom in the same direction. A little closer by, so if he couldn’t get to the door to the outside…

He managed to make the lights flicker and the music hesitated as well, before both completely turned off. In the momentary distraction, Logan managed to pull himself free and make a break for it. He wasn’t steady, but he made it to the wall and managed to guide himself to the door. Just as he put his hand on a door handle, he felt someone grabbing his wrist tightly.

“Thought you could play your tricks on me,” Peter hissed as he pulled Logan away from the door. The lights flickered back on and the music started up again and at this point, Logan really didn’t feel like he could hold on any longer. He was so dizzy and nauseous and he could barely even stand anymore.

As soon as the lights were on, Peter dropped the attitude and gave Logan a soft look, very aware that he could be seen again. “Let’s get you outside, huh?” he said softly, putting his free hand on Logan’s shoulder.

Logan murmured a soft ‘no’, but he didn’t have the power to resist as Peter guided him towards the exit. And it wasn’t long before he passed out.

When Logan opened his eyes, his head was pounding, and he had no memory of arriving at… where was he, actually? He carefully sat up, ignoring his glaring headache, and studied his surroundings. He was in a cage, somewhere… in a tent, it seemed. There were a few other cages, all empty, as well as a few small tables, drawers and boxes.

Immediately, he panicked, understanding fully well what might have happened. After all, with the information he did have (he went out to a bar, forgot part of the night and woke up in a weird, unfamiliar place. In a cage for fuck’s sake), it wasn’t hard to determine what was going on here. Logan closed his eyes and tried to find any device in the proximity, but he could sense exactly… none. There was nothing around that he could use to his advantage. Except… when he really focussed, he could sense a number of weak signatures, but he had no idea what kind of device they belonged to; he didn't recognize them, and he would rather not risk anything, either. He had no idea where he was and if he did the wrong thing, he might cause something very bad. And he would rather… not.

So he waited. Even though he hated having to wait. He felt so useless and he knew there had to be something he could do to get out of this situation, but he couldn’t think of it and he despised that.

Eventually, someone came in. A man, just a bit taller than Logan. He had his hands behind his back and eyed the man in the cage in a way that made him uncomfortable. “God, I’m glad you finally woke up,” he scoffed, raising an eyebrow. “Took longer than I thought. Are you such a lightweight, or did Pete fuck up the dose?”

Logan shook his head slightly, trying to process the question. His mind was unbearably slow at the moment. “What?”

The man rolled his eyes and got closer to the cage, leaning against the bars a bit. Logan just narrowed his his but didn’t move or back down. He would not let himself be intimidated by a guy like this. Even if he was just a little bit on edge, knowing very well where he was. He could defend himself if he had to, so… maybe, once he got out of this cage, he could try making a break for it? Would that be realistic?

“Do I need to repeat the question, dollface?” the man repeated with a chuckle. “Or are you really so thick?”

Even though Logan had told himself to keep his composure, this kind of comment really made him fume. Not just the insult - he could handle that pretty well; he knew he was smart and he didn’t give a shit about what other people said about it - but most of all the nickname. He couldn’t stand nicknames like that, that just commented on someone’s - his - looks. Especially when used in a condescending way, like this definitely was.

So, obviously, he lunged at the man on the other side of the bars. He barely even knew that he was doing it until… well… he was.

And the next moment, he was shocked by a taser. Without giving himself a second to think, Logan reached his hand out and cut of the electricity of the device, ripping himself away immediately. He wondered how he didn’t sense it earlier, but when he tried it, the man found that he still didn’t sense it, even when he was so close to it.

“Ah, of course,” the other man chuckled with a malicious grin as he dropped the taser on the ground. “You and your little circus tricks, huh? Could’ve expected that. Well, lucky for you… you’re in the right place, darling.”

Logan scoffed, but didn’t respond. He didn’t know if this man had any other tricks up his sleeve that he didn’t know about, and he didn’t want to do anything stupid either. He wanted to get out of this place alive. And preferably in a good state, as well. If that was even possible in this place.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to this place quire quickly. Just don’t mess up too badly and you’ll be fine,” he winked. “I’ll let you get off easy, since you’re new, but you’re warned, sweetheart.”

The guy softly hummed some song as he turned around and looked through one of the boxes in the tent. Occasionally, he’d pick up something, look over at Logan, and turn away again. But eventually, he’d found what he was looking for and he closed the box, turning back to Logan.

“I will have to take some precautions, though,” he hummed as he unlocked the door to the cage. He gave Logan a strong glare as he opened the door a bit, just enough for him to slip inside. “Try anything funny and I’ll rip your throat out.”

Logan didn’t even have the time to try something funny, because the man had locked the door again and was now walking towards him, holding his hands behind his back so that Logan couldn’t see what he was holding.

Before he could even do anything, the man reached out and grabbed Logan’s wrists in one fist. The shorter man made a soft noise of protest, but was quickly pushed to the ground, face first. The other man pushed his knee into his back tightly. Then, he pulled Logan’s wrists to his back and cuffed them together. The device made a soft click as if was locked into place, followed by a soft beep. Logan tried to protest and struggle, he really did, but his current position didn’t allow for much.

Next, the man pulled Logan’s head up by his hair and, with the other hand, clicked something around his neck. He then let go and got up.

“There,” he spoke as he walked back to the cell door, “you try anything funny now.”

Logan huffed and tried to push himself up, but still didn’t speak. He didn’t feel like it was worth it to waste any words on this topic. It’s not as if anything he said would change anything anyways. The guy would probably enjoy his retorts way more than his silence. And Logan wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Someone will come get you soon,” the man called, already walking backwards to leave the tent. “Do anything, and we’ll know, yeah?”

With those words, he left, without even giving Logan a chance to respond - not that he would have answered if he had the chance anyways.

Getting up was quite a struggle, as he could not use his hands to push himself up. By the time that someone came in, he had managed to sit up, but he was not yet standing.

I’m sure you’ll know the drill. The one who came in to fetch Logan was one of the twins - Roman, this time - and, as he saw Logan struggling to get up, he opened the door to the cage, which had been left unlocked, and helped Logan up.

“Thanks,” Logan said softly, not looking at Roman as he did so. He hated feeling like this, so… unable to do anything, and dependant on others.

“Of course,” the other answered with a soft smile. “I’m Roman, I- I was told to show you around, so… shall we?”

Logan nodded shifting slightly so his arms were in a slightly more comfortable position. “Sure,” he said. “I’m Logan, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you,” Roman smiled as he led Logan out of the tent, giving a slight look at the arms cuffed behind the other’s back. “You’re new to the circuit, aren’t you?”

“That obvious?” Logan scoffed.

“It’s mostly the cuffs,” the other explained, “they are meant to suppress your powers. They usually only use them on new recruits.”

Logan hummed, but didn’t say anything. He really did not like the sound of that. He didn’t like anything about this place. He really, really did not want to be here. But if these cuffs really took away his powers as long as he wore them… he needed to make sure he got out of these things as quickly as possible. Maybe some others here would help him escaping this place. Surely, they wanted to leave as badly as he did, right?

Roman led him around the place, explained the usual method of operation around here and most of the ground rules they had to obey - as well as the consequences.

“How long do these have to stay on?” Logan asked, nodded his head the the cuffs as well as he could.

Roman looked at him for a second and considered it for a moment or two. “It depends,” he finally responded. “Until they trust you enough. So… I don’t know.”

“How am I supposed to do anything like this?”

Again, Roman paused for a second. He wasn’t used to questions like these; most people that came here were people that had been in the circuit for a while, and they had already learned not to ask any difficult questions. And this definitely fell under that category. But as long as none of the employees found out…

“I don’t know,” he repeated. “They might be able to change it so your hands are in front of you, but… they gotta be willing, I guess.”

Logan raised an eyebrow, but nodded anyways. This was probably the best answer he was going to get right now. He’d just… have to wait?

The two men talked a little bit longer, Roman introduced Logan to his brother and other friends and… well… that was it. There wasn’t really much to do outside of talking and doing what you were asked - mostly rehearsing, preparing for a performance or actually performing.

Indeed, later that day, someone did listen to Logan’s question to at the very least cuff his hands in front of his body than behind, so he could do things himself. But not before they made it painfully clear that they did not like his attitude - in the more… literal way. But hey… a victory’s a victory.


	7. CHAPTER SIX: THE TURNING POINT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Just... a lot of anxiety and fear, but I think that's all   
(Ironic that the Halloween chapter has the least trigger warnings huh)

A few weeks had passed since Logan’s arrival at the Circus, and while he had gotten rid of the cuffs a short while back, he really felt like the employees at the place really did not trust him. A point that was very much proven by the fact that they were very intent on hammering home the fact that using his powers and asking questions and acting out of line was  _ bad _ , and should  _ not  _ happen under any circumstance ever. 

Despite that, Logan had not given up his hopes of getting out of this place. But if he wanted to succeed at that, he had to play things smart here. Which meant keeping a low profile - as low as possible - and finding people who would help him. Because he could not do this alone. 

His hopes were on recruiting the twins, Patton, Virgil and Damon. Partially because they had powers that could come in handy when trying to escape, but mostly because they were actually really nice and he enjoyed their company. Even if, most of the time, they were too scared to say anything that could be taken the wrong way - not that Logan could blame them, especially after learning their past experiences in this environment. But if he had to choose anyone to get out of here with… yeah, it would most definitely be them. No doubt. 

So, one day, Logan was sitting with the twins when he decided he would bring it up. He knew he had to be mindful about it, since they were not likely to agree, especially not the first time he brought it up, but he had to start somewhere. 

After having made sure that there were no Circus employees around, he turned to the two, and asked if they had never thought about getting out of this place. A quick segway into the topic he really wanted to discuss. 

This suggestion alone seemed to shock the twins to their core. Not unexpected, to be fair. Logan had predicted this outcome when he considered his options the night before. 

“What? No, no, no,” Roman stammered with a shake of his head. “We couldn’t…”

“That’s not true, though,” Logan refuted. “We have powers, they don’t. We can overpower them.”

“That’s insane,” Remus said as well, looking at Logan as if he was crazy. And he really thought so in that moment. “We’ve got nowhere to go. These collars have trackers. They’ll find us.”

“I can turn them off,” the other said with a simple shrug. He had really thought this through. He was never one to make half a plan and see how this would go. No, he liked to know what to do when - especially when trying to convince these people to join him. 

Remus still wasn’t convinced about Logan’s plan. Far from it, really. No, he refused to even think of it, and the only reason he was even keeping up this information, was for Logan to see how ridiculous this idea was. “Even if that does work… where would we go?”

“The police.”

“But… we don’t know where we are, and- they’ll come looking for us, and what do we do when we get there?”

Logan patiently explained to them that the police would help them, even if the Circus would start looking for them, and that the police was more than likely to do everything in their power to find the Circus and end it for good. That was how the police was supposed to be, anyways. And most of the time, it really was like that. The police was intent on rolling up every group that participated in any illegal acts concerning Empowered Beings, and Logan was confident that they’d help them. 

Still, the twins were hesitant. Not just because they were so scared of the repercussions. Because they had spent twenty-six years of their lives in this place. This  _ was  _ their life. And yes, it wasn’t much of a life. It sucked, it really did. But it was all they knew. All they had ever lived. They didn’t know the outside world for real, and getting out and away from this… it was daunting. They’d never been on their own and it was a scary thought to think that they’d have to… face the world for real. 

But they were also too afraid of failing and facing the consequences. Too afraid of doing anything out of line, since they were told from a young age not to do this. And breaking out was exactly one of the thing they’d been taught to never do ever. So, obviously, their minds practically  _ screamed  _ at them to not do this. Even if the thought of finally getting out of this was a nice one… they couldn’t. They couldn’t leave this behind. 

But Logan was stubborn. He knew they could do this, even if they didn’t realise it just yet. He talked to Patton, to Virgil, to Damon, and all of them shared the same thoughts that the twins had expressed. Even if Damon did seem to entertain the idea of rebelling against the Circus for a few moments, he was quick to refute it. It was too dangerous. Too dumb. He‘d learned the hard way that he shouldn’t risk anything. But even then, there was a little voice in his head that told him that Logan’s idea wasn’t that bad. Not if they could get the help of some of the others. But his anxiety was still stronger at this point. 

Even then, Logan refused to give up. He gave the others a little bit of time before he brought it up to them again, and surprisingly, Virgil was the first one to agree. 

“Really?” Logan was taken aback slightly, shocked by this response. He really hadn’t expected  _ Virgil  _ to be the one to agree, out of all of them. He was relieved, but… surprised. 

“I… yeah.” The teen seemed to be as surprised by his own words. He seemed to waver slightly, but then slightly regained his composure. “Yeah, if we… plan it, it- it should be good, right?”

He was anything but confident, and almost sure that this plan was doomed to fail. But he was sick of being stuck here, of being treated like shit. He was tired of having a life that seemed to be worth nothing more than the money he could bring the Circus. That was all he was worth, and he hated it. If this idea succeeded, he’d be out of here. If it failed, he’d - hopefully - end up dead. Either way, it was better than what he had now. So… what did he have to lose, right? 

“It should be,” Logan confirmed with a nod, stopping slightly as he saw an employee of the Circus stepping in the direction of their spot outside their sleeping tent. “As long as we get more help.”

Virgil nodded. Much like Logan, he wasn’t fond of the idea of leaving without the others. Especially Roman and Remus, who had taken him in from the moment he got here. Even if they could do this with the two of them, he didn’t want to leave this place without them. 

“I can try talking to Ro and Re,” he suggested, knowing very well that out of the two of them, he was more qualified to convince the twins. No offense to Logan, but they were just closer. Mostly due to the two of them pretty much adopting him on sight. He could always try, because he was not going to leave them behind, no matter what. 

“Of course,” the other nodded, “I’ll talk to the others some more, then.”

And so, they did. And it took them quite a while, but finally… somehow… they managed to convince the others. And I would tell you all about it, but it was surprisingly boring. What happened after, is way more interesting anyways. 

Once all six of them had agreed to join in on the plan - even though some of them still maintained that it was ridiculous and a suicide mission - the next stage started. They had to think of an actual plan to get out. 

“I can’t believe you’re actually serious about this,” Remus huffed as he joined the others at one of the tables in the back of the tent where they’d gather to eat. No one was around at this point, since it was well past lunch and dinner was hours away. So this was a safe place to discuss things. 

“You’re here too,” Damon brought up from the other side of the table, giving Remus a look. He was maybe the easiest to convince. Because even though his experiences at the Training Facility were still all too clear in his mind, he found some sense of security in the fact that there would be others with him. If all six of them managed to get rid of their collars, if they all managed to team up and get themselves to actually use their powers to get out of here… that felt so much safer and gave him so much more confidence. They could manage this. He was sure. And if they failed… well…at the very least, he wouldn’t be alone in that. 

Remus didn’t respond to Damon’s comment and just sat down, as Patton asked how exactly they were going to achieve this. 

“It’s simple,” Logan said with a simple shrug. “We use our powers to get out of here, and either call the police, or find a police station. Whichever is easier.”

“And how are we going to do that?” Roman asked. “These collars notify the employees where we are when we use our powers, they’ll find us in no time.”

“They would,” Logan confirmed, “but you forget that I can turn them off. They won’t even realise what’s happening. We use our powers to our advantage. You can copy our powers,” he pointed at Roman. “Damon can be our cover. We just need to stay out of their hands long enough to get to safety, find help and get the others out of here.”

The others were still very doubtful, but with a few more discussions and debates on how to do it, how to use their powers to get out of here, and what they would do, they seemed to be convinced. Slightly. They were still hesitant, but not as much as they were before this. 

A glaring issue was still the fact that they had no idea where they were. But with Damon, who could hide them from the view of others, Logan, who could sense any nearby device and use it for orientation, and Remus, who could - if needed - change into someone else and ask for help, things might work out well for them. 

The final problem they had to work out, was the correct moment. This turned out to be the most challenging one so far. After all, there were a couple conditions that had to be met; they all had to be together, there had to be an opening - they had to be alone, unsupervised. And that was a rarity. Their best chance was either during mealtimes, or at night. And since the first option require them sneaking out of a full tent, with every employee there… nighttime was the best one. They’d have to wait until they were sure that everyone was asleep and find their way out of the cages. But luckily for them, Roman had many powers. He’d been at the Circus for twenty-six years, met dozens of Empowered Beings, and the employees of the Circus had made sure that he copied as many of them as he could. After all, it would make for a great shows, just showing off how many skills he could copy. And due to him spending pretty much his entire life at the Circus, they trusted him enough that he wouldn’t use those learned skills against them. He never had used them against the Circus either. Until he met Logan, that is. 

One of the skills he copied happened to be superhuman strength, which could easily be used to bend the bars of the cages. But only if he could get rid of that damned collar. For that, he’d have to copy Logan’s technopathy. But he couldn’t do that without, again, setting off the collar and letting the employees know what he did. So, before he did that… he needed their consent. As much as he hated to do that. He really didn’t have any other choice. 

So, once Roman gathered up the courage to approach one of the employees, he asked them for permission to copy Logan’s power. They told him to wait as they left and discussed this with some of the more important employees. Roman patiently waited, constantly wondering why he was doing this and making up dozens of reasons why he should  _ not  _ continue this plan. It was ridiculous, after all. It was a suicide mission, it was idiotic. But before he could even decide to pull out of it, the employee came back with the confirmation that yes, he could copy Logan’s powers. They’d have to follow him and supervise as he did so, to be sure that he did not abuse this permission. 

Roman nodded and - in contrast to what they just said - followed the employee to find Logan, so he could do his thing. As they were walking there, they told him that Jones had overheard and wanted to rehearse with this new power as quickly as he could, so he could get used to the new power and they could find a way to use it in an act as well. Of course, Roman nodded with a soft agreement. What else was he supposed to do? He couldn’t exactly refuse this after all. 

With Logan’s technopathy now added to his repertoire, it was time for step two; actually getting out of here. Logan tried his best to explain to Roman how to use technopathy to turn off the collar around his neck, but the latter brushed it off and said he’d try his best. He usually used his gut feeling to use powers he’d copied anyways, so he was sure he would be fine. That’s what he said at least; he wasn’t going to tell Logan that the mere idea scared him to death and he would much rather stay here. In a place that he hated, but knew. Because at least this was familiar and predictable. But he knew he couldn’t do that either. Not when they came this far. He didn’t want to let the others down either, so…

That night, they all sat down on the mattresses in their cages, waiting until the employees had checked all their doors and left the tent for the night. And after that, they’d wait even longer. To be sure that all the other acts were asleep - they didn’t want to risk getting caught by any of them. And when Roman was sure that the others were sleeping, he carefully reached up and placed his hands on the collar around his neck, taking a deep breath. This was absolutely insane, he thought for what had to be the millionth time. This was so dumb and he was sure that it wouldn’t work but… he had to try, right? He promised the others that he would do this, and he couldn’t let them down. Especially Logan; he seemed the most intent on getting out. Which made sense, seeing as he was the only one who hadn’t been completely broken by the system. 

With another deep breath, Roman closed his eyes. He just had to turn this thing off and then make sure he could get out of here. 

It took a little bit of focus, but eventually, there was a small surge of energy, a click and… no shock. Roman had subconsciously tensed up, awaiting this shock, but nothing came and it was just… a relief. The collar released itself from around his neck and Roman found he could even take it off. When he closed his eyes, he became so much more aware of the eyes of his friends staring at him, looking to the entrance of the tent and when no one came in, back to him. 

The fact that it worked both instilled a certain excitement and fear in him. Because that meant the plan could work. And... he didn’t know how he felt about that. 

Roman gestured towards Remus, signalling him to come closer. And when he did, he turned off his collar as well. He then went on to the other side of his cage so he could do the same to Patton. And then… the fun part. 

He walked to the front of his cage and gripped the bars tightly. With another deep breath, he channeled the superstrength he had copied and bent the bars, just enough to squeeze himself out of there. He did the same for Remus and Patton, before sneaking around the small tent so he could let out Logan, Damon and Virgil as well. Once they were all freed from their collars and cages, Remus carefully opened the tent, just so everyone could sneak out. And they were off. 

The group was silent as they silently made their way towards the small road leading away from the Circus. Every single one of them knew that this was crazy, and that they’d regret it for the rest of their life if this went wrong. There were so many things that could happen to them if they got caught. They didn’t want to think about the possibilities, yet none of them could stop doing exactly that. 

Once they passed the last tent, and even a little bit past that, Logan, who had led the group until that point, stopped and turned around. 

“Patton, could you make a flame?” he asked, making sure not to speak too loudly, just in came. “We need to see where we’re going.”

“I- eh- yeah,” the other stammered slightly, clearly reluctant to use his powers like that. “But won’t they… what if they see us?” 

“They won’t,” Logan reassured him, firm and confident yet with still a bit of gentleness in his voice, just enough to put Patton at ease a little bit more. “Damon, can you make sure no one sees us? Or the light for that matter?”

Damon bit his lip and thought about this question, but nodded. “Guess I can,” he responded softly, “I… I should be able to do that.”

“Perfect, so if you do that… we should be fine. We need to get as far from here as we can, before anyone knows we’re gone.”

The other nodded, and they all knew that he was right. But they were all terrified, years of abuse still all to clear in their minds. But with a deep breath and a slight twitch of his hands, Damon was the first to act up and he made a gesture with his hands. 

“We should be safe now,” he announced with a slight tremble in his voice. “I don’t think anyone will see us.”

This gave Patton the confidence to do his part as well. He snapped his fingers and conjured up a little flame, giving off just enough light so that they could see where they were heading. And with that little bit of aid, Logan felt like it was good enough to continue. He asked Patton if he could join him in front of the group, so they could see what was ahead of them.

They followed the small road, until they got to a fork in the road. He stopped and looked left or right, trying to determine which was best. Just as he turned around to ask the others, Virgil spoke up.

“We should go left,” he whispered softly, “right is in the direction of the highway.”

He remembered this all too well. Even in the dark. He knew the route they would usually take if his parents took him to the Circus. Even after almost ten years, he remembered. They took this road often enough. 

“Alright,” Logan nodded, repeating these words in his head. “Sounds fair. Left then?” He turned back, just to be sure that everyone was agreed that they would go left. A small choir of agreements followed. No one wanted to be near the highway, after all. Way too many dangers. 

The group walked as long as they could, making quite a bit of distance, before they really couldn’t continue any longer. They all down, away from the road, and took their camp, trying to get some sleep. All but Roman, who took over Damon’s job of hiding them from sight as the others rested, and Logan, who stayed up to make sure that Roman was okay. He knew that the other had had a rough life, even if he still didn’t know the full extent, and he knew that he was reluctant to leave, so he wanted to be sure that he was truly okay. 

And as they sat there, Logan tried to figure out if there was anything near that they could run to for help. Indeed, he got a lot of signatures from a lot of different devices. They were still quite some time away, but he figured that they could reach that place in a day, if they hurried a little bit, anyways. 

At some point, they decided to switch places. Damon woke up again to take over from Roman, and the two of them managed to talk Logan into getting some rest himself, and they woke Remus to switch with him.

Eventually, the sun rose and the group was woken up. They still rested for a little bit longer, even though they couldn’t sleep anymore. Slowly but surely, the sky became lighter as the sun climbed higher in the sky. By now, the employees would know they were gone. So they needed to be fast if they wanted to get help. Things became much more risky now. But they couldn’t back down now, they were too far now.

Soon enough, they were on the road again, on their way to the tech signatures that Logan had felt, hoping that it was a village, like he hoped. It was still miles away and the walk there was tiring. Not just the walking, but their constant worrying as well. They were constantly looking over their shoulders, fearing that the employees would come and find them. And at some point, yes, they did hear voices and cars and yelling, but nothing came their way. It would seem that they were safe. For now, anyways. 

It was dark again when they got to the source of the signatures. And indeed, it had been a village, just like Logan had predicted. The six of them felt a strange sense of relief and safety as they stepped inside the village. Damon kept up the illusion hiding them as they sat down in a quiet area, to discuss what they would do. And soon enough, they came up with a plan. 

Logan, who was the least anxious out of all of them, would go up to someone and ask if they could borrow a phone. Then, he’d call the police and let them know what had happened to them. He could ask someone where they were if the police asked for it. 

The group decided to lift the illusion just before they entered the village. They couldn’t stay hidden after all, and if they stayed together, if they stayed safe… 

So, they walked until they found a little square where they felt safe enough to sit and rest. They sat down on a few benches there and looked out for someone to ask for help. None of them particularly enjoyed the idea of knocking on someone’s door to get in, so they’d just wait until someone passed by to ask. 

And surely, it didn’t take long until someone passed by, walking their dog. Without hesitation, Logan got up and walked up to them, looking back at the others. Roman and Virgil watched him, to make sure that everything would be alright and nothing weird would happen to him. Remus and Patton were looking around to double check that they were safe. And Damon was trying to stay awake, but failing. He had kept up the illusion for most of the day, insisting that he was fine, despite Roman offering to take over continuously. And that took a lot of energy, and it wore him out. So that’s why he had trouble staying awake right now. 

“Excuse me,” Logan said softly as he approached the villager and their dog. “Could I borrow your phone? I need to make a call, and I do not have a phone… on me.”

They hesitated for a second, but nodded anyways as they reached for their phone, sending a quick glance to the people on the bench not far behind him. “Yeah, yeah, of course,” they said as they got their phone out of the pocket of their leather jacket and held it out to Logan. “Here you go.”

He thanked them as he took the phone in his own hands, mirroring their polite smile. He quickly dialled 911 and held the phone to his ear, quickly looking back at his friends.

“911, what’s your emergency?” a voice asked him after not even a long wait. 

“Hi, this is Logan McKay,” he answered, folding one arm across his chest as he spoke, “I’m with a group of- Empowered Human Beings, and I want to report an illegal circus.”

“Alright,” the voice said slowly, “I’ll have to transfer you for that, okay?”

Logan hummed softly - he couldn’t really fight that, could he now? That wouldn’t exactly be efficient. 

He was transferred to someone else, who again asked him to state his emergency, to which he repeated what he’d said before. 

“Okay, and where are you now?” the person on the other side of the line asked him. At this, Logan turned towards the person whose phone he had borrowed them. 

“Where are we?” he asked them, looking at them for a second longer to study their body language. They didn’t seem particularly shocked or repulsed by his confession to the police. Rather confused and surprised. 

“Madison,” they responded, “Oklahoma.”

He nodded and repeated this. Following this, there was a soft hum on the other side of the line. 

“Okay, I got it, there will be people right with you, may I ask where you will be?”

“Eh- right now we’re in a square, I don’t know…”

Next to Logan, the owner of the phone lightly tapped his shoulder. “Wait, can I talk to them?”

He looked up at them hesitantly and nodded eventually, deeming them trustworthy enough. He announced that he would hand the phone to someone else just before giving it to the original owner of the phone, who stated their name and address quickly, and talked some more as Logan waited anxiously.

Eventually, the call was finished and the other person - Alex Carter, as he had overheard - turned back to Logan. “So,” they said slowly, looking at the others, who were still sat on the bench. “They’re your friends?”

Logan followed their gaze and nodded, still hesitant to let his guard down completely around them, but they seemed nice enough. He really felt like he could trust them. 

“Okay, if you want… you guys can come with me. Until the police get here. I figured that would be safer than waiting out here.”

Again, Logan nodded. “Yeah, if it’s no problem for you…”

“Not at all,” they reassured him with a quick shake of their head. “As long as you guys feel safe enough to, I don’t want to force anything.”

Logan looked at them with a small smile. Yeah, this person seemed trustworthy enough. They were so worried and concerned… there was no way they weren’t genuine about this. 

“I’ll talk to them,” he told them. They nodded as he walked away, back to his friends to give them a quick recap of what happened. 

As he expected, not everyone was as excited about going home with a stranger, but with a little bit of convincing from Logan and Patton, who had gotten great at reading people over the years, the others were convinced as well. So, they agreed to go back and wait at this stranger’s place until the police came. 

On their way there, Alex tried to make some conversation with the six of them. It worked, but only partially. They were still wary and weren’t particularly fond of talking to people they didn’t quite know. Their past experiences hadn’t been the best, after all. 

But eventually, the six of them were sat in Alex’ living room - which was maybe a little bit too small to fit so many people, but they were used to conditions that were way worse than this, so they didn’t complain. Alex had made sure they all had something to drink and to eat and made sure they were okay. They kept an eye out, but didn’t bother them too much. There was so much they wanted to ask them, and so much they wanted to know, but they didn’t want to bother them. Everyone knew about the conditions in these kinds of Circuses, even if they’d never had experience with them, and they didn’t know how these people were treated. They didn’t want any of them to feel unwanted or forced. They just kept an eye on the six, to be sure that they were completely okay. 

When the police arrived, Alex took it upon themselves to talk to them first, to tell them about the Empowered Beings in their living room and to mention everything they had managed to get out of the six of them.

And then, eventually… it was time for them to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all for now! There will be a part two to this story, with a bit more of what happens after they get out, so be on the look out for that ((:


End file.
